BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


JAMES   CLARK   STRONG 

This     picture     taken     on     eighty-fourth     birthday 
1910 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


OF 


JAMES  CLARK  STRONG , 

Colonel  and  Brigadier  General,  by  Brevet. 


Los  Gates,  Santa  Clara  County, 
California. 

1910 


COPYRIGHT  1910 

BY 
JAMES   CLARK    STRONG 


DEDICATION 


This  Biographical  Sketch  is  affectionately 
dedicated  to  my  loving  wife 


EMILY  K.  STRONG 

Who  is  still  with  me,  and  has  been  my  faithful 
companion  for  over  fifty  years, 


and  to  our  children 

JEAN  D.  STRONG 

EDWARD  CLARK  STRONG 

STUART  EFNER  STRONG 


PREFACE 

This  Biographical  Sketch  is  written  at  the  request  of  my 
family,  and  is  written  in  a  free,  off-hand  manner  without  any 
attempt  at  style  or  literary  merit. 

I  may  be  mistaken  as  to  the  date  of  some  of  the  incidents 
narrated  and  also  in  their  chronological  order  in  some  cases, 
but  that — it  seems  to  me — can,  and  will  be  overlooked. 

If  anyone  desires  to  know  more  of  the  history  of  my  an- 
cestors I  refer  them  to  Rev.  B.  H.  Dwight's  History  of  the 
Strong  family,  printed  by  Joel  Munsell,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  1871. 
Our  branch  comes  through;  ist,  Elder  John  Strong;  2cl, 
Jedediah ;  3rd,  Preserved;  4th,  Noah;  5th,  Adonijah,  who  was 
my  grandfather.  He  was  a  Colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  was  made  Commissary  General  of  the  Army  in  the  New 
England  States,  by  General  Washington. 

My  mother's  family  is  given  in  the  ''Genealogy  of  the  Stod- 
dard  family,  originally  compiled  by  Charles  Stoddard  and 
Elijah  W.  Stoddard  and  published  in  1849.  Revised  and  en- 
larged by  Elijah  W.  Stoddard,  and  re-published  in  1865. 
Press  of  J.  M.  Bradstreet  &  Son,  8  Spruce  Street,  New  York." 


SYNOPSIS  OF   CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER  I.  -  1 

FATHER.     My  brothers. 

CHAPTER  II.  11 

MOTHER.  Her  genealogy.  My  farming  days.  Peddling 
books  when  fifteen. 

CHAPTER  III.  20 

Dr.  Marcus  Whitman.  First  one  to  interest  me  in  the  Indians. 
Advised  me  to  study  medicine.  Taught  school. 

CHAPTER  IV.  27 

Williston,  Easthampton,  Mass.  Incidents  while  there.  Health 
tailed.  Began  studying  medicine. 

CHAPTER  V.  41 

Journey  to  Oregon  with  Brother  William.  Rio  Janeiro.  Saint 
Catharines.  Cape  Horn.  Valparaiso.  San  Francisco.  Astoria. 

CHAPTER  VI.  54 

Early  days  in  Oregon.  Cathlamet.  Fort  Vancouver.  Major 
Ingals.  Captain  U.  S.  Grant.  Oregon  divided.  Inhabitants 
disappointed  because  new  territory  was  named  "Washington.'' 
Member  of  its  First  Legislature.  Appointed  Asst.  U.  S. 
Attorney.  Elected  Prosecuting  Attorney.  Visited  the  States, 
expecting  to  return.  Remained  there  on  account  of  my  aged 
mother.  Married. 

CHAPTER  VII.  62 

Civil  War.  Captain  in  21st  Regt.  N.  Y.  Vols.  Incidents  while 
guarding  the  Long  Bridge  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Gov.  Mor- 
gan's visit  to  Col.  Rogers  at  Fort  Runyon.  Promoted  to  Lieut. 
Col.  38th  N.  Y.  Vols. 

CHAPTER  VIII.  72 

Located  the  sharp-shooter.  My  balloon  target  for  enemy's 
field-piece.  Over  the  works  at  Yorktown.  Buried  shells.  Gen. 
McClellan  astonished.  Ordered  to  double  quick.  Gen. 
Hooker's  men  on  the  retreat.  Ordered  to  drive  the  enemy's 
skirmishers  from  the  woods  on  the  right.  Gen.  Kearney's 
order.  Advanced  on  abatis  in  front  of  their  redoubt.  Drove 
enemy  from  rifle-pit  with  bayonet.  1  fell;  shot  through  the 
hip.  Kindness  of  my  men.  Surgeon  Berry  of  the  38th.  Gave 
orders  to  Captain  of  steamboat.  Gen.  Rufus  Ingalls. 


CHAPTER  IX.  -  -  83 

Arrival  of  brother  John  at  Fortress  Monroe.  Steamboat.  Cars. 
Reached  home.  Letter  from  Col.  Ward.  General  Birney's 
report.  Commissioned  Colonel  38th  N.  Y.  Vols.  Mustered  out 
with  regiment. 

CHAPTER  X.  91 

Commissioned  Colonel  15th  Regt.  Vet.  Res.  Corps.  Commis- 
sion signed  by  President  Lincoln.  Ordered  to  take  command 
of  the  post  at  Chicago,  including  Camp  Douglass.  Number 
of  prisoners  became  too  great  for  one  regiment  to  guard.  The 
8th  V.  R.  C.,  Col.  and  Bvt.  Brig.  Gen.  Sweet,  and  a  battery 
sent  to  assist.  Ordered  to  report  to  General  Meade  in  Phila- 
delphia. Mistaken  for  General  U.  S.  Grant.  Lectured  in  Eng- 
land on  North  American  Indians.  Pleasant  incident  on  return 
voyage.  Moved  to  California. 

CHAPTER  XL  100 

Visited  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Exposition  at  Portland,  Oregon, 
in  1905.  Trip  to  Alaska.  Surprised  at  the  climate,  flowers, 
and  beautiful  scenery.  1906,  visited  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  Found  it 
much  changed.  Conclusion. 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

JAMES  CLARK  STRONG  (frontispiece) 
REV.  HENRY  PIERCE  STRONG 

LAURA    STODDARD   CLARK   STRONG  9 

HON.   WILLIAM   STRONG  39 

JOHN   C.   STRONG,   ESQ.           -  -           81 


REV.   HEXRY   PIERCE  STRONG 

1785  -   18.35 


CHAPTER  I 
FATHER. 

My  father,  REV.  HENRY  PIERCE  STRONG,  was  born  in 
Salisbury,  Connecticut,  Feb.  23,  1785,  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege, class  of  1807,  and  at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
in  1810;  married  Nov.  6,  1810,  LAURA  STODDARD  CLARK, 
daughter  of  James  Clark,  and  Hannah  Stoddard,  born  in  Dan- 
bury,  Connecticut,  Nov.  3,  1786. 

In  Andover,  father  and  Professor  Moses  Stuart,  (grand- 
father of  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps  Ward),  became  very  warm 
friends,  and  married  sisters.  Prof-  Stuart  was  five  years  older 
than  father,  and  mother's  sister,  Abigal,  (whom  he  married), 
was  five  years  older  than  mother. 

Father  settled  and  preached  in  New  York  City,  and  at 
several  places  in  the  New  England  States  until  he  lost  his 
voice  from  a  bronchial  difficulty  which  compelled  him  to  retire 
from  the  ministry.  He  then  moved  to  Vienna  (now  Phelps), 
Ontario  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  bought  a  farm  and  began 
farming,  and  here  it  was  that  I  was  born,  May  6,  1826. 

After  a  few  years,  father  regained  his  voice  sufficiently 
to  preach  again,  and  took  charge  of  the  church  there,  as  well 
as  the  one  at  Oaks  Corners,  four  miles  distant. 

His  farm  consisted  of  eighty  acres,  and  for  some  distance 
along  where  the  house  stood,  joined  the  boundary  line  of  the 


2  CHAPTER  I 

village,  so  we  did  not  have  to  go  more  than  about  two  blocks 
to  reach  the  church,  in  the  basement  of  which  was  held  the 
Sunday  School,  which  we  all  had  to  attend,  from  the  time 
we  were  old  enough  to  walk,  and  recite  the  seven  verses  we 
had  learned  during  the  week,  for  it  was  the  rule  in  father's 
house  for  each  child  to  learn  one  verse  of  the  Bible  every 
day.  I  remember  his  giving  me  a  dollar, — which  was  a 
large  sum  of  money  for  a  little  boy  to  have, — for  reading 
the  Bible  through. 

Between  our  house  and  the  village  line  father  had  a  fine 
garden  and  on  the  sides  of  one  of  the  walks  had  planted  some 
tomatoes,  although  they  were  then  thought  to  be  poisonous  to 
eat.  He  would  let  us  boys  play  with  them  by  rolling  them  in 
the  walk,  but  told  us,  that  should  one  break,  not  to  touch  it 
with  our  hands,  but  scrape  it  up  with  the  shingle  he  gave  us 
for  that  purpose  and  throw  it  over  the  fence. 

I  remember  the  first  time  I  saw  tomatoes  on  the  table  as 
an  edible  vegetable,  which  was  quite  a  while  after  father's 
death. 

In  those  days  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  was  not 
considered  wrong  by  the  great  majority  of  people,  even  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel  used  them,  but  father  did  not  entertain 
that  idea  and  never  used  them.  He  would  make  a  bargain 
with  the  men  he  hired  to  mow  the  hay, — it  was  then  all  done 
by  hand — that  he  would  pay  them  a  certain  sum  more  than 
the  going  wages  per  day,  if  they  would  not  use  any  intoxicat- 
ing liquor  while  working  for  him.  I  have  heard  my  older 
brothers  say  that  father  made  money  by  that  arrangement  as 


CHAPTER  I  3 

the  men  would  do  more  work,  and  could  be  relied  upon  to  be 
on  hand  more  regularly  than  the  men  on  other  farms  who 
were  paid  less  cash,  and  supplied  with  the  customary  amount 
of  liquor. 

At  Rushville,  on  the  County  line  between  Ontario  and 
Yates  Counties,  and  twenty  miles  distant  from  Vienna,  lived 
my  father's  warm  friend,  Rev.  Joseph  Brackett,  who  had  mar- 
ried a  relative  of  my  mother's.  Mr.  Brackett  was  taken  sick 
and  asked  father  to  supply  his  pulpit  during  his  illness,  which 
he  did. 

Mr.  Brackett  died  in  September,  1832,  and  father  was 
asked  to  assume  charge  of  the  church.  This  he  did,  but  did 
not  move  his  family  to  Rushville,  until  May  6,  1833,  the  day 
I  was  seven  years  old. 

A  short  time  before  he  moved  to  Rushville  was  the  only 
time  he  ever  punished  me.  I  had  been  sent  to  school  and  had 
done  something  the  lady  teacher  thought  deserved  punishment, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  she  was  right,  although  I  do  not  remember 
what  it  was;  she  placed  me  between  two  negro  girls  about  my 
own  age  and  put  one  of  their  bonnets  on  my  head.  While 
in  this,  to  me,  disgraceful  predicament,  two  ladies  came  in 
to  visit  the  school,  and  while  the  teacher  was  attending  to 
them,  I  jerked  off  the  bonnet  and  ran  down  the  stairs. 

The  punisment  father  gave  me  was  to  take  off  my  clothes, 
wrap  me  in  a  blanket,  and  hold  me  under  the  cistern  pump, 
while  my  oldest  brother  pumped  the  water  on  to  me;  then  he 
carried  me  into  the  house  and  put  me  to  bed.  He  did  not 
send  me  back  to  that  school,  however,  either  because  we  were 


4  CHAPTER  I 

about  to  move  to  Rushville,  or  because  he  did  not  blame  me 
much  for  running  away. 

Father  died  in  Rushville  on  August  28,  1835.  The  death 
of  my  father,  when  I  was  but  nine  years  of  age,  was  the  great- 
est loss  I  ever  suffered.  He  was  a  kind  father,  was  highly 
educated,  and  very  studious.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  I  had 
been  studying  Latin  nearly  two  years,  and  although  he  was 
a  very  strict,  puritanical  man,  I  never  felt  afraid  to  ask  him 
questions  about  my  studies. 

When  father  died,  he  left  mother  money  enough  which 
put  at  interest  brought  her  $310.00  a  year,  also  ten  acres  of 
land  with  a  very  comfortable  house  upon  it,  in  Rushville,  and 
it  was  here  she  lived  for  many  years. 

As  this  is  but  a  sketch  of  my  life,  I  will  only  mention 
those  of  my  brothers  who  particularly  come  into  it,  except  to 
show  how  many  I  had,  and  how  mother  was  situated  at  the 
time  this  sketch  begins. 

H£NRY  STRONG,  M.  D.,  my  oldest  brother,  was  married 
and  living  in  Mississippi,  when  father  died.  He  had  attended 
Hamilton  College,  N.  Y.,  but  left  prior  to  graduation.  He 
obtained  his  medical  education  at  the  medical  college  in  Louis- 
ville, Ky.  His  first  wife  dying,  he  married  again,  and  prior 
to  the  Civil  War,  moved  his  family  to  Rockford,  111.  He  was 
a  noted  physician  and  surgeon,  and  his  fame  as  such  spread 
far  and  wide. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  he  was  commissioned  a 
Major,  in  the  Medical  Corps,  and  ordered  to  report  to  Gen- 
eral Sherman,  which  he  did,  and  served  on  his  staff  to  the  end 


CHAPTER  I  5 

of  the  war.  General  Sherman  and  he  became  very  warm 
friends,  sometimes  joking  upon  their  relationship.  The  Doc- 
tor was  nine  years  older  than  the  General,  a  strong  Union 
man,  and  on  his  mother's  side  was  fourth,  and  the  General 
fifth,  removed  from  a  common  parent;  a  relationship  far  too 
distant  to  be  claimed,  or  even  spoken  of,  unless  it  connected  one 
with  a  great  and  noble  man  like  General  William  T.  Sherman. 

GEORGE  PERRTNE  STRONG,  next  younger  than  brother 
Henry,  attended  Hamilton  College,  but  left  prior  to  graduat- 
ing, went  to  Mississipppi,  taught  school,  married,  and  studied 
law.  Prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  moved  his 
family  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  continued  the  practice  of 
law,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  never  lived  at  the 
Rushville  home. 

WILLIAM  STRONG  was  next  younger  than  brother  George. 
He  never  lived  at  the  Rushville  home,  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege, class  of  1838,  studied  law,  married  and  settled  in  Cleve- 
land, Ohio.  He  enters  into  my  life  more  than  either  of  the  two 
older  ones,  and  I  shall  have  more  to  say  about  him  later  on. 

JOHN  CALVIN  STRONG  was  next  younger  than  brother 
William.  He  was  eight  years  older  than  myself,  fitted  for 
college  at  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  taught  school,  entered  Yale 
College  in  1838,  graduated  class  of  1842,  studied  law,  married 
in  1847,  and  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Geneva,  N.  Y. 

Thinking  he  could  do  better  in  a  larger  place,  moved  to 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession 
there  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  so  he  was  not  much  at 


6  CHAPTER  I 

the  Rushville  home;  in  fact,  never  lived  there  after  father's 
death. 

As  he  enters  largely  into  my  life  I   shall     have    more    to 
say  about  him  later  on. 

THOMAS  STRONG  was  next  younger  than  brother  John, 
and  four  years  older  than  myself.  He  remained  at  home  and 
did  his  full  share  of  the  work,  and  mother  kept  him  at  school 
just  as  she  did  me,  and  we  had  lots  of  fun  together.  He  never 
studied  the  languages,  and  why  father  did  not  make  him 
study  Latin,  as  he  did  all  the  older  boys  and  myself,  I  do  not 
know,  unless  it  was  because  he  saw  that  the  trend  of  his  mind 
was  all  for  music. 

In  the  summer  of  1837,  he  unfortunately  had  a  heavy  bar 
fall  on  the  instep  of  one  of  his  feet,  which  laid  him  up  for 
quite  a  long  time.  After  he  became  perfectly  well,  apparently, 
he  went  in  swimming,  caught  cold,  and  rheumatism  set  in, 
from  which  he  was  a  great  sufferer  all  the  rest  of  his  life. 
Sometimes  he  would  be  better  for  a  while,  and  then  again  be 
under  the  doctor's  care,  suffering  great  pain. 

Thus  matters  went  on  until  brother  Henry  wrote  mother 
to  send  him  to  Mississippi,  hoping  the  climate  might  benefit 
him.  This  she  did,  but  it  did  not  do  him  as  much  good  as 
they  had  hoped  it  would. 

He  was  passionately  fond  of  music,  was  a  sweet  and 
powerful  singer,  and  mother  bought  a  piano  for  him,  which 
he  learned  to  play,  and  made  some  money  giving  public  con- 
certs. 

After  mother  died,  Thomas  lived  with  brother  Henry  at 


CHAPTER  I  7 

Rockford,  until  death  called  him  to  that  "Haven  of  Rest" 
where  all  sufferings  cease. 

He  died  very  suddenly.  One  morning  at  the  breakfast 
table,  after  brother  Henry's  second  wife  had  died,  and  Henry 
was  away,  one  of  his  little  boys  was  crying  because  the  cook 
had  failed  to  have  a  piece  of  pie  ready  for  his  lunch  at  school, 
and  brother  Thomas  had  quieted  him,  and  made  him  very 
happy  by  saying,  "Never  mind,  Newtie,  Uncle  Tom  will  get 
you  a  nice,  big  red  apple."  Soon  after  when  he  started  to 
rise  to  get  the  apple  he  was  taken  with  a  spasm,  seized  the 
arms  of  his  chair,  and  was  dead  in  less  than  ten  minutes.  He 
was  never  married. 

CHARLES  STRONG — three  years  younger  than  myself.  He 
was  but  six  years  old  when  father  died,  and  lived  at  the  Rush- 
ville  home  until  he  left  for  O'regon  in  rather  a  peculiar  way. 

One  time  brother  John,  while  living  in  Geneva,  which  was 
only  sixteen  miles  from  Rushville,  was  home  visiting  mother, 
when  at  the  dinner  table,  Charlie  said,  "If  I  had  ten  dollars 
I  would  go  to  Oregon."  "Don't  let  that  stop  you,  Charlie," 
said  brother  John,  at  the  same  time  handing  him  ten  dollars. 
"All  right,  I'll  go,"  said  Charlie. 

When  mother  saw  that  he  really  meant  it,  she  strenuously 
objected  but  after  Charlie  had  left  the  room,  John  told  her 
that  he  would  get  no  farther  than  New  York  before  he  would 
be  out  of  money  and  write  for  some  to  come  home  with,  and 
he  would  send  it  to  him,  that  the  experience  would  do  Charlie 
good,  etc.,  etc.  So  mother  let  him  go. 

When  Charlie  reached  New  York,  he  strolled  around  the 


8  CHAPTER  I 

docks  until  he  found  a  vessel  loading  for  San  Francisco,  and 
went  to  work  checking  on  freight.  He  was  always  a  very 
jolly  fellow,  and  by  the  time  the  vessel  was  ready  to  sail,  he 
had  worked  himself  into  the  good  graces  of  the  captain  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  was  shipped  as  Captain's  Clerk. 

On  rounding  Cape  Horn,  the  vessel  was  so  nearly  wrecked 
by  a  storm  that  they  had  great  difficulty  in  keeping  her  afloat, 
and  when  they  reached  Valparaiso,  Chili,  the  captain  turned 
her  over  to  the  Underwriters. 

After  a  while,  through  the  friendship  and  influence  of  the 
captain,  he  procured  a  position  on  another  vessel  to  San  Fran- 
cisco and  from  there  had  little  or  no  difficulty  in  reaching 
Oregon. 

He  remained  there  two  or  three  years,  then  returned  to 
the  State  of  New  York  and  married. 

During  the  Civil  War,  he  was  commissioned  ist  Lieuten- 
ant of  Company  K,  6th  Reg't  U.  S.  Vols.,  and  served  one  and 
a  half  years  guarding  the  Engineers  surveying  the  first  route 
for  a  railroad  across  the  plains  to  California,  and  was  then 
mustered  out. 


LAURA   STODDARD    CLARK  STRONG 
1786  -   1861 


CHAPTER  II. 
MOTHER. 

My  mother  descended  from  ANTHONY  STODDARD,  of  whom 
the  historian  says: 

"The  name  Stoddard  is  derived  from  the  office  of  Stand- 
ard-Bearer, and  was  anciently  written,  De-La-Standard.  In 
the  office  of  Heraldry,  England,  the  following  origin  of  the 
Stoddard  Family  is  found : 

"WILLIAM  STODDARD,  a  knight,  came  from  Nor- 
mandy to  England,  A.  D.  1066,  with  William  the  Conqueror, 
who  was  his  cousin.  Of  his  descendants  we  find  record  of"- 
(here  the  historian  mentions  quite  a  number,  among  whom  is) 
"ANTHONY  STODDARD,  of  London,  who  emigrated  to 
Boston,  about  1639."  He  was  m)r  mother's  progenitor. 

Mother  was  a  kind,  loving  mother,  and  kept  me  at  home 
and  at  school  in  the  village,  earning  what  I  could,  for  all 
schooling  had  to  be  paid  for  as  there  were  no  free  schools 
then, — and  she  was  not  left  rich — until  the  spring  of  1838, 
when  she  put  me  out  to  work  on  a  farm  at  $3.00  a  month, 
which  was  good  wages  in  those  days  for  a  boy  only  twelve 
years  old. 

This  farm  was  about  six  miles  from  home,  if  I  went  cross 
lots,  and  the  farmer  allowed  me  to  walk  home  once  in  a  while, 
on  Saturday  afternoon,  but  I  must  be  back  by  milking  time 


12  CHAPTER  II. 

Monday  morning.  He  had  six  cows,  of  which  he  milked  four, 
and  I  two. 

There  were  no  matches  on  the  farms  in  the  western  part 
of  the  country  in  those  days,  and  as  our  bed  of  coals  had  gone 
out  one  morning,  I  had  to  go  to  the  nearest  neighbor's,  at  least 
a  half  mile  away,  to  get  some  coals  with  which  to  kindle  the 
,fire.  It  was  considered  a  great  invention  when  sulphur  matches 
came  into  use ;  these  were  made  of  fine  splinters  of  dry  pine, 
about  four  inches  long,  one  end  of  which  was  dipped  about 
half  an  inch  in  melted  sulphur,  and  when  that  dried,  they 
could  be  laid  away  until  needed,  then  all  one  had  to  do  to  gel 
a  fire  was  to  light  some  punk  with  a  flint  and  steel,  touch  the 
sulphur  match  to  it,  which  would  blaze,  then  light  a  candle 
and  take  your  time  at  building  a  fire.  They  had  been  used 
at  the  East,  and  in  villages,  but  not  on  farms  in  the  West. 

Candles  were  all  dipped  at  that  time,  and  it  was  quite  a 
knack  to  be  a  good  candle  maker,  for  one  had  to  use  his  own 
judgment  as  to  how  many  times  to  dip,  to  make  the  candle  the 
right  size  for  the  wick,  to  prevent  its  smoking.  Brothers 
Thomas,  Charley  and  myself  made  all  the  candles  mother  used, 
and  we  thought  it  a  great  invention  when  candle  molds  came 
into  use.  We  could  then  make  a  dozen  at  a  time,  and  always 
the  same  size,  so  we  had  no  trouble  with  smoky  candles  after 
getting  the  right  sized  wick  for  our  molds. 

Just  before  my  six  months  was  ended,  Mother  lost  her 
cow,  and  was  greatly  worried  as  to  how  she  could  get  an- 
other. One  day  the  farmer  said,  "Jimmy !  I  hear  your  mother 
has  lost  her  cow,  and  if  she  wants  you  to  take  old  brindle  for 


CHAPTER  II.  13 

your  pay  you  may  take  her,  although  she  is  worth  $20  and 
your  wages  will  amount  to  but  $18,  but  you  have  been  a  good 
bov  and  I  will  give  her  to  your  mother  for  your  wages."  So 
I  drove  the  brindle  cow  home,  and  I  guess  it  would  have  re- 
quired a  modern  search-light  of  the  highest  power  to  have 
found  a  prouder  twelve  year  old  boy  in  the  whole  State  of 
New  York. 

During  the  next  winter  Mother  heard  that  a  daughter  of 
a  friend  of  hers  had  married,  and  was  living  with  her  husband 
on  a  farm  about  twelve  miles  from  Rushville,  and  that  they 
wanted  a  boy  about  my  age  to  work  for  them,  and  thinking 
that  would  be  a  good  place,  sent  me  there  in  the  spring  to 
work  at  $3  per  month.  I  had  not  been  there  long  before  I 
wished  I  was  somewhere  else,  anywhere  I  thought  would  be 
better  than  where  that  woman  was.  The  man  was  kind  and 
good,  but  the  woman  was  a  virago.  She  made  me  wash  all 
the  flannels  and  stockings,  mop  the  floors,  and  do  all  the  mean 
work  about  the  house.  She  was  very  sweet  and  lovely  to  her 
husband  when  anyone  was  around,  but  a  fearful  tyrant  when 
there  wasn't.  She  had  him  so  cowered  that  he  did  not  dare 
oppose  her  in  the  slightest  particular. 

I  tried  to  write  mother  but  was  never  allowed  to  send  the 
letter.  Thus  matters  went  until  the  3rd  of  July,  when  mother 
sent  one  of  my  brothers  to  bring  me  home  to  spend  the  4th. 
I  then  told  her  what  kind  of  work  I  had  had  to  do  and  that 
I  didn't  like  it. 

I  found,  however,  that  the  woman  had  kept  mother  posted 
as  to  my  health,  saying  I  was  well  and  happy,  and  was  a  good 


14  CHAPTER  II. 

boy.  Then  with  my  brother  she  sent  a  letter  to  mother  say- 
ing she  hoped  nothing  would  prevent  her  sending  me  back 
to  work  out  my  six  months. 

Mother  listened  to  my  complaints  and  then  said  that  it 
was  a  boy's  duty  to  obey  his  employer,  and  to  do  the  work 
his  employer  wanted  done,  and  that  I  must  go  back  arid  finish 
the  six  months. 

I  knew  there  was  no  appeal  from  her  decision,  and  on  the 
next  Monday  morning  I  went  back. 

Matters  went  on  again  about  as  before  for  some  time, 
until  a  little  incident  happened  which  mortified  her  exceeding- 
ly, for  she  wanted  the  neighbors  to  think  her  the  "pink  of 
perfection." 

The  cows  were  in  the  habit  of  coming  up  at  night  to  the 
barn-yard ;  to  do  this  they  had  to  come  through  a  long  lane 
from  the  pasture.  One  night  one  of  them,  a  new  one  they  had 
just  purchased,  did  not  come  up,  and  the  woman  told  me  to 
go  and  find  her.  I  went  and  looked  thoroughly  through  the 
pasture,  but,  not  finding  the  cow,  came  back.  She  saw  me 
coming  up  the  lane  without  the  cow,  met  me  at  the  barn-yard, 
and  said,  "You  go  right  back  and  find  that  cow,  and  don't 
you  come  home  'till  you  do  find  her."  I  had  been  working  ail 
day  and  was  tired  and  hungry,  and  said,  "I  want  my  supper 
first."  She  then  said,  "You  shan't  have  any  supper  'till  you 
find  that  cow,  and  mind  you,  don't  you  come  home  without 
her." 

I  went  back,  looked  all  around  but  could  not  find  the  cow. 
At  the  farther  end  of  the  pasture  was  a  swamp  and  finding  a 


CHAPTER  II.  15 

piece  of  the  fence  broken  down  I  thought  possibly  the  cow 
might  have  gone  into  that,  so  I  went  in  there  quite  a  distance 
where  I  found  a  little  island  high  and  dry,  on  which  was  a 
large  hollow  log  that  had  probably  been  cut  down  some  years 
before  as  a  bee  tree.  It  was  nearly  dark,  so  I  took  the  long- 
stick  I  had  been  carrying  to  help  me  jump  from  bog  to  bog, 
and  cleaned  out  the  hollow,  which  was  plenty  large  enough 
for  me  to  crawl  into,  then  gathered  a  lot  of  brush  and  placed 
it  before  the  entrance  and  crawled  in  feet  first,  drawing  the 
brush  after  me,  thus  stopping  up  the  entrance,  so  that  no 
squirrel,  toad  or  even  snake  could  get  in.  I  felt  so  very  tired 
that  it  was  not  long  before  I  was  sound  asleep.  When  I  saw 
daylight  through  the  brush,  I  knew  it  must  be  morning, 
crawled  out,  began  looking  again  for  the  cow,  and,  fortunately 
finding  her  in  a  ravine  in  some  woods,  drove  her  home.  On 
nearing  the  barnyard  I  was  surprised  to  see  three  or  four  men 
near  the  house  and  when  they  saw  me,  all  came  to  meet  me, 
the  woman  rushing  up  and  throwing  her  arms  around  my 
neck,  kissing  and  hugging  me  almost  to  death,  covering  me 
with  endearing  and  loving  epithets.  One  of  the  neighbors 
asked  me  why  I  didn't  come  back  last  night.  "Because  she 
told  me  not  to  come  back  until  1  found  the  cow,  and  said  she 
wouldn't  give  me  any  supper  if  I  did."  I  was  asked  where  I 
stayed  all  night,  etc.,  and  I  told  them.  These  were  neighbors 
who  had  gathered  to  go  out  and  hunt  further  through  the 
swamp  for  me,  and  it  mortified  her  very  much  to  have  them 
hear  my  story. 

I  learned  afterwards  that  the  woman's  husband  and  one 


16  CHAPTER  II. 

of  the  neighbors  had  been  out  all  night  hunting  for  me,  firing 
guns,  blowing  horns  and  calling  me,  fearing  I  had  gotten 
mired  in  the  swamp,  and  that  she  had  not  gone  to  bed  that 
night  at  all.  She  treated  me  much  better  after  this,  so  I  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  my  night  in  the  hollow  log  in  the  swamp 
was  really  a  blessing  in  disguise  as  far  as  I  was  concerned. 
Mother  sent  for  me  when  my  time  was  out,  and  I  had  the  satis- 
faction of  handing  her  the  eighteen  dollars. 

During  the  next  winter  some  one  told  mother  that  I  could 
make  more  money  peddling  books  and  getting  subscriptions 
for  papers  than  I  could  farming,  and  that  they  could  get 
authority  for  me  to  solicit  subscriptions  for  some  New  York 
papers  on  commission. 

It  was  now  nearly  spring  and  hardly  time  to  make  all  the 
arrangements,  and  as  this  year,  1840,  was  a  presidential  elec- 
tion year,  it  might  not  be  a  good  one  to  start  in  that  business, 
and  as  I,  after  my  last  experience,  objected  so  strenuously  to 
being  put  out  on  a  farm  again  mother  concluded  to  have  me 
stay  at  home,  and  she  would  get  things  ready  for  next  year. 

That  summer  I  spent  earning  what  I  could  at  odd  jobs, 
and  by  driving  horses  on  thrashing  machines  for  farmers 
nearby,  at  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  and  when  not  at  work, 
mother  kept  me  reviewing  my  lessons,  for  she  was  one  of 
those  who  did  not  believe  in  letting  a  boy  be  idle,  and  after 
General  Harrison  was  nominated  for  president  I  spent  some  of 
my  time  riding  in  processions  with  other  boys,  singing,  ''Tip 
pecanoe  and  Tyler,  too,"  which  was  great  fun. 

When  the  fall  term  commenced  I  started  in  school  again, 


CHAPTER  IL  17 

but  getting  provoked  at  the  teacher,  came  home  one  day  an  1 
told  mother,  ''I  don't  want  to  go  to  school  any  more."  I  had 
a  little  touch  of  the  disease  called  "big  head",  and  thought  I 
had  enough  schooling.  Mother,  after  trying  to  reason  me  into 
changing  my  mind,  and  failing,  said,  "Well,  you  must  learn 
some  kind  of  business,  then ;  no  boy  of  mine  shall  grow  up  a 
know-nothing  if  I  can  help  it." 

I  still  remaining  obdurate,  she  made  an  arrangement  that 
very  afternoon  with  a  blacksmith  whose  shop  was  not  far  from 
our  house  to  take  me.  I  learned  afterwards  that  it  was  under- 
stood between  them  that  he  should  make  me  work  very  hard, 
and  not  let  me  come  home,  or  play  with  any  of  the  boys  during 
work  hours.  He  carried  out  mother's  wishes  to  the  letter,  and 
I  was  so  tired  every  night  when  1  went  home  that  I  wanted  to 
go  to  bed  instead  of  going  out  with  any  of  the  boys. 

In  about  a  week  my  pride  gave  way,  and  I  told  mother 
that  I  would  rather  go  to  school.  "Oh,  no!"  she  said,  "I  can't 
have  a  boy  whiffling  around  like  that  and  changing  his  mind 
every  few  days.  You  had  a  chance  to  go  to  school,  and  i  told 
you  how  it  would  be,  but  you  made  your  choice,  contrary  to 
my  advice,  and  you  must  stick  to  it."  I  felt  pretty  sad  when 
I  went  back  to  work  the  next  day,  and  every  night  I  would  beg 
of  mother  to  let  me  quit  and  not  learn  the  business,  promising 
her  that  I  would  always  study  after  that,  if  she  would  only 
let  me  go  to  school  again. 

When  it  came  the  second  Saturday  night,  the  blacksmith 
told  me  that  my  mother  had  asked  him  to  let  me  stop  working 


i8  CHAPTER  II. 

for  him,  and  go  back  to  school,  and  he  hoped  I  would  be  a 
good  boy,  and  study  hard. 

Monday  morning  saw  me  back  at  school.  I  had  to  stand 
a  good  many  jeers  from  some  of  the  boys,  who  had  been  over 
and  seen  me  in  the  shop  and  who  taunted  me  by  saying  I  hadn't 
pluck  enough  to  stand  hard  work,  but  that  was  better  than  not 
coming  back  to  school. 

During  that  winter  my  mother's  friends  had  procured 
authority  for  me  to  obtain  subscriptions  for  some  New  York 
papers,  and  when  it  came  pretty  good  going  in  the  spring, 
mother  let  me  take  her  horse  and  became  security  for  what 
books  I  might  need  at  a  book  store  in  Canandaigua.  I  made 
a  water  proof  box  that  just  fitted  into  the  buggy,  and  on  one 
Monday  morning  started  out,  a  fifteen-year-old  book  peddler, 
most  always  returning  home  on  Saturday  afternoon. 

I  kept  at  this  business  two  summers,  having  a  good  deal 
of  time  to  read, — of  which  I  became  very  fond — much  more 
than  I  could  have  had  had  I  been  working  on  a  farm.  Besides, 
it  was  an  experience  well  worth  having,  one  that  could  not  be 
had  in  these  days.  I  always  stopped  over  night  at  some  farm 
house,  and  being  a  little  fellow,  the  family  did  not  seem  to 
mind  my  being  present,  and  I  saw  a  great  deal  of  home  life, 
without  any  veneer  on  it. 

Before  I  became  well  acquainted  with  my  different  routes 
I  would  sometimes  reach  a  house  where  I  expected  to  stay 
over  night,  and  find  they  had  no  room  for  me,  and  if  it  was 
too  late  to  go  on,  I  would  sleep  on  the  hay  in  the  barn ;  after 
I  learned  my  routes  I  had  no  trouble.  Each  fall  when  the 


CHAPTER  II.  19 

roads  became  bad,  I  went  home,  settled  up  all  my  accounts 
for  books  and  papers,  and  again  began  going  to  school.  At  the 
end  of  the  second  summer,  I  had  much  more  money  than  ever 
before,  besides  having  acquired  a  good  deal  of  experience  and 
self-confidence,  which  was  of  great  value  to  me  in  after  life. 


CHAPTER  III. 
DOCTOR  MARCUS  WHITMAN. 

I  mention  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman — the  missionary  who 
established  the  Whitman  mission  in  Oregon — in  this  sketch, 
as  he  it  was  who  first  created  the  desire  in  me  to  go  to  Oregon, 
which  tended  greatly  to  mold  my  future  life. 

His  mother  was  a  member  of  my  father's  church  in  Rush- 
ville,  and  other  members  of  his  family  also  lived  there,  with 
whom  I  was  well  acquainted;  in  short,  he  himself  was  born 
there. 

In  the  spring  of  1843,  on  ms  return  to  Oregon,  from 
Washington  and  Boston,  after  making  that  memorable  ride 
across  the  continent  during  the  winter  of  1842  and  1843,  ne 
came  to  Rushville  to  see  his  mother,  and  while  there  gave  a 
talk  in  the  old  church,  telling  of  the  missionary  work  among 
the  Indians.  He  described  the  Indians,  the  country  and  the 
climate  so  vividly  that  when  he  said  he  wanted  to  get  as  many 
as  he  could  to  go  back  with  him  to  settle  in  the  country,  I 
asked  him  to  take  me,  but  he  said  he  wanted  only  married 
men,  and  as  I  lacked  a  month  or  more  of  being  seventeen  years 
old,  and,  of  course,  unmarried,  I  did  not  fill  the  requirements, 
but  I  became  so  deeply  interested  that  I  resolved  to  go  there 
as  soon  as  I  could.  It  took  me  seven  years  to  carry  out  that 
resolution,  as  will  be  seen  later  on. 

Several  of  us  boys  were  very  much  interested  in  what  he 


CHAPTER  III  21 

told  us  about  the  two  Indian  boys,  John  I-ce,  and  Richard 
Tac-a-tu-i-tis,  the  ones  he  brought  back  with  him  from  Ore- 
gon and  left  at  Rushville  during  the  winter  of  1835  and  1836, 
while  he  went  East  and  married.  They  attended  the  same 
school  we  did  and  we  became  much  interested  in  them. 

I  called  upon  Dr.  Whitman  the  next  day  and  asked  him 
many  questions  about  the  Indians,  and  he,  seeing  how  earnest 
I  was,  said,  "The  Indians  need  good  doctors  and  if  after  you 
have  finished  your  education  and  studied  medicine,  you  want 
to  come,  we  should  be  glad  to  have  you.''  This  gave  me  an 
idea  as  to  how  I  might  get  to  Oregon. 

I  had  expected  to  resume  peddling  books  again  that  sum- 
mer, but,  before  it  was  time  to  get  ready,  something  occurred 
which  changed  rny  plans  materially. 

A  little  east  of  Rushville  was  a  district  school  that  em- 
ployed a  man  teacher  winters,  and  a  woman  teacher  summers. 
Last  winter  the  boys  had  thrown  the  teacher  out  of  the  school 
house  and  broken  up  the  school. 

Two  or  three  of  that  school  board  were  warm  friends  of 
my  mother,  and  members  of  the  same  church.  One  day  I 
hear.l  them  say  they  had  not  found  any  one  who  would  take 
the  school  for  the  summer  on  account  of  the  rough  boys.  I 
asked  them  what  they  would  pay  me.  They  smiled  at  first, 
but  when  they  saw  I  was  really  in  earnest,  said  that  if  I  would 
agree  to  charge  nothing  in  case  I  failed  to  keep  the  school, 
they  would  pay  me  so  much,  mentioning  the  amount.  They 
had  all  known  me  from  childhood.  In  those  days  it  was  the 
custom  to  have  the  teachers  board  around  through  the  dis- 


22  CHAPTER  III 

trict,  which  I  did  not  wish  to  do,  and  boarding  at  home  would 
be  of  great  advantage  to  me,  as  it  would  give  me  much  time 
to  study.  After  awhile  we  agreed  upon  a  price,  I  to  board  at 
home,  which  1  thought  would  be  better  for  me  than  peddling 
books,  taking  into  account  the  advantage  of  being  at  home. 
Mother  thought  so,  too. 

I  had  but  few  scholars  the  first  week  and  no  trouble. 
One  morning  the  second  week,  three  large  boys  came,  being 
the  same  who  had  thrown  the  teacher  out  of  the  school  house 
the  winter  before.  I  could  have  handled  either  of  them  alone, 
but  the  three  combined  could  easily  have  handled  me.  They  did 
not  bring  any  books.  In  a  short  time  I  saw  by  their  actions 
there  was  trouble  brewing,  but  being  "forewarned  is  fore- 
armed/' and  I  was  ready  for  them.  I  had  placed  a  bundle  of 
good  whips  in  my  desk,  and  a  revolver,  loaded  with  a  light 
charge  of  powder,  and  a  quantity  of  salt,  instead  of  bullets,  in 
my  coat  pocket.  It  was  not  long  before  they  were  whispering 
and  laughing.  I  told  them  to  be  still.  They  laughed  at  me, 
and  one  of  them  picked  up  an  inkstand  to  throw  at  me,  but 
I  was  too  quick  for  him,  and  drawing  my  revolver,  cocking  it, 
and  pointing  it  straight  at  him  told  him  I  would  shoot  if  he 
attempted  to  throw  that  inkstand.  He  could  see  the  bright 
caps  on  the  revolver,  which  showed  that  it  was  loaded.  The 
sight  of  a  revolver  was  something  far  out  of  the  ordinary  and 
probably  had  never  been  seen  in  a  schoolhouse,  and  had  a  very 
quieting  effect  upon  all  three.  I  then  told  them  that  I  had 
heard  of  their  throwing  the  teacher  out  of  the  schoolhouse  last 
winter,  and  that  he  ought  to  have  shot  every  one  of  them ; 


CHAPTER  HI  23 

that  the  law  would  have  justified  him  if  he  had,  and  that  I  was 
prepared,  and  would  shoot  every  one  who  attempted  to  at- 
tack me,  that  I  was  going  to  teach  this  school,  and  rather 
than  be  thrown  out  of  the  schoolhouse  or  have  the  school  broken 
up,  I  would  shoot  every  one  of  them.  I  then  ordered  the  one 
who  had  seized  the  inkstand  to  come  out  onto  the  floor.  He 
looked  surprised  and  hesitated,  but,  after  receiving  assurances 
from  me,  in  very  sharp  language,  that  he  would  be  shot  if  he 
didn't,  and  seeing  the  revolver  cocked  and  pointed  straight  at 
him,  he  came.  I  made  him  take  off  his  coat,  and  get  upon  his 
knees,  and  with  revolver  in  one  hand,  and  whip  in  the  other  I 
gave  him  a  good  thrashing,  keeping  my  eye  well  on  the  other 
two,  also.  After  I  was  through  and  he  had  arisen  and  put  on 
his  coat,  I  told  him  he  might  go  home  now,  if  he  wished,  of 
which  permission  he  immediately  took  advantage.  When  re- 
cess came  the  other  two  went  home  and  I  saw  no  more  of  any 
of  them.  Before  the  summer  was  over  I  had  fifty  scholars, 
which  was  more  than  had  ever  attended  the  school  before 
either  winter  or  summer. 

I  am  sure  had  I  not  had  the  revolver  and  had  I  not  pre- 
sented such  a  determined  front,  I  would  have  been  thrown 
out  of  that  schoolhouse.  I  did  not  tell  anyone  except  the 
schoolboard  that  it  was  loaded  with  salt  instead  of  bullets. 
They  did  not  blame  me,  and  very  few,  not  connected  with  the 
school  ever  heard  of  the  revolver  incident.  I  had  a  very  pleas- 
ant summer,  and  in  the  fall  began  going  to  school  again. 

Early  the  next  spring,  my  brother  William, — who,  after 
graduating  at  Yale  College,  married  and  settled  in  Cleveland. 


24  CHAPTER  III 

Ohio — sent  for  me.  I  had  spoken  to  him  of  my  desire  to 
study  medicine  and  to  go  to  Oregon  where  Dr.  Whitman 
was.  He  said  he  could  now  get  me  a  place  in  a  drug  store 
of  a  friend  of  his,  so  I  went  to  Cleveland. 

He  was  acquainted  with  an  old  doctor  living  there  by  the 
name  of  Gregory,  who  said  to  me — a  short  time  before  I  was 
to  enter  the  drug  store,  "Mr.  Strong,  I  think  you  are  just  the 
person  my  son  wants,  and  it  will  be  a  good  job  for  you  all 
summer,  and  will  pay  you  twenty  dollars  a  month  and  all  ex- 
penses." 

I  learned  that  his  son,  Dr.  Charles  Gregory,  living  at  Sand 
Lake,  a  little  east  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  had  been  putting  Gregory's 
Pills  upon  the  market  for  many  years  and  gotten  rich  enough 
to  take  them  up  through  the  country  and  confine  his  business 
entirely  to  wholesale  houses ;  that  he  had  had  a  man  traveling 
with  this  object  in  view  for  two  years,  but  when  he  started  out 
this  spring  an  accident  happened  which  injured  him  so  severely 
that  he  could  not  proceed  farther  on  the  trip. 

I  accepted  the  offer,  went  to  Sand  Lake,  and  was  instruct- 
ed in  what  I  was  to  do.  My  equipment  was  most  complete, 
consisting  of  a  very  fine  horse,  harness  and  buggy,  so  thorough- 
ly curtained  that  I  could  ride  all  day  in  the  rain,  if  necessary, 
without  getting  wet.  I  carried  nothing  but  notes,  with  a 
memorandum  book  giving  me  the  name  of  every  place  I  was 
to  visit,  the  number  of  miles  each  was  from  the  other,  and  the 
name  of  the  person  or  persons  T  wras  to  see  there.  My  instruc- 
tions were  just  as  brief  and  to  the  point:  "Never  carry  much 
money,  send  it  to  me  by  drafts  on  New  York  as  often  as  you 


CHAPTER  III  2-5 

can.  Write  to  me  once  or  twice  a  week.  Always  stop  at  first 
class  hotels,  as  a  matter  of  safety,  and  always  have  your  buggy 
and  harness  kept  clean  and  bright ;  that  a  fresh  package  of 
notes,  and  a  memorandum  book  would  be  sent  me  to  different 
cities." 

I  started  ;  drove  a  zigzag  route  through  the  State  of  New 
York,  northern  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio.  Just  after  reaching 
Indiana.  I  found  a  man  whose  note  I  had  for  ninety  dollars, 
had  sold  his  drug  store,  and  with  his  household  goods  almost 
packed,  was  about  ready  to  move  his  family  to  west  of  the 
Mississippi  river.  He  refused  to  pay  the  note,  but  by  threaten- 
ing to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  a  lawyer,  I  prevailed  upon  him 
to  give  me  a  horse  for  it.  I  then  changed  the  single  harness 
and  shafts  for  a  double  one  and  pole,  and  drove  the  remainder 
of  my  route,  on  through  Indiana  into  Illinois,  then  back  by  an 
entirely  different  route  to  Sand  Lake,  having  driven  between 
three  and  four  thousand  miles,  and  my  collections  amounted 
to  a  large  sum  of  money.  I  was  between  five  and  six  months 
on  the  road.  The  doctor  was  pleased  with  the  new  horse  and 
complimented  me  for  having  been  so  successful  in  my  collec- 
tions, and  especially  in  collecting  that  bad  debt,  and  said  that 
it  was  evident  that  after  I  began  to  drive  two  horses  to  the 
light  buggy,  I  had  made  better  time.  After  settling  all  the 
business  matters  with  him  he  asked,  "Well  now,  how  much  do 
I  owe  you?" 

I  had  spent  some  twenty  dollars  of  my  salary,  and  on 
figuring  the  amount.  I  deducted  what  I  had  expended,  and 
then  passed  the  paper  to  the  doctor,  who  soon  handed  me  the 


26  CHAPTER  III 

whole  amount  without  any  deduction,  saying,  "You  have  done 
so  well  for  me  that  1  will  make  you  a  present  of  that  amount." 
He  then  gave  me  enough  more  to  pay  my  expenses  back  to 
Rushville. 

I  now  had  money  enough  to  resume  my  studies  prepara- 
tory to  entering  college,  so  did  not  return  to  Cleveland,  but 
spent  the  winter  studying. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Early  the  next  spring  I  went  with  my  friend  Henry  M. 
Brackett,  son  of  Rev.  Joseph  Brackett,  to  attend  Williston 
Seminary,  Easthampton,  Mass.  I  had  gone  through  all  the 
books  required  to  enter  college,  but  as  I  had  been  so  inter- 
rupted, and  had  studied  some  of  them  without  a  teacher,  I  was 
told  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  finish  at  some  school  of  ac- 
credited standing,  so  I  went  there  with  my  friend.  My  father, 
and  two  of  my  brothers  had  graduated  at  Yale,  and  it  was  my 
ambition  to  graduate  at  the  same  college. 

The  only  railroad  anywhere  near  there  at  that  time  was 
the  Boston  and  Albany.  We  ought  to  have  stopped  at  West- 
field,  but  instead,  went  on  to  Springfield,  and  put  up  at  "Uncle 
Jerry's  hotel,"  so  called.  This  gave  rise  to  a  little  episode 
connected  with  my  life  at  Williston  Seminary  or  I  should  not 
mention  it.  We  asked  to  have  our  trunks  taken  up  to  our 
room,  but  as  they  were  very  heavy,  having  all  our  books  as 
well  as  clothing  in  them,  and,  as  we  were  to  stay  but  one  night, 
the  porter  objected,  and  I  spoke  to  /'Uncle  Jerry"  about  it. 
They  were  piled  with  quite  a  large  number  of  others  in  the 
hall,  and  when  he  came  and  looked  at  them,  said,  "Oh!  never 
mind,  boys,  they  will  be  perfectly  safe  here,"  and  with  some 
misgivings  we  retired.  In  the  morning  my  trunk  was  missing. 
It  had  been  claimed  through  mistake  by  a  passenger  and  taken 
off  on  the  Vermont  stage.  "Uncle  Jerry"  patted  me  on  the 
back  and  said  "It  will  be  back  soon,  I've  sent  after  it;  eat, 


28  CHAPTER  IV 

drink  and  be  merry,  my  boy,  'till  your  trunk  comes,  it  won't 
cost  you  anything." 

It  was  then  arranged  that  Brackett  should  go  to  East- 
hampton,  find  a  room  for  us,  and  that  I  would  come  as  soon 
as  my  trunk  returned.  This  he  did,  and  I  had  a  gay  time  for 
a  boy,  stopping  at  one  of  the  best  hotels  in  Springfield,  at  no 
expense,  and  spending  my  time  wandering  over  the  city,  looking 
at  all  the  sights,  but  day  after  day  passed  until  it  began  to  be 
wearisome,  so  I  told  "Uncle  Jerry"  that  I  wanted  to  go  to 
Easthampton  and  see  how  things  were.  He  at  once  sent  me 
there  (some  16  or  18  miles),  in  a  buggy,  saying,  "I  will  pay 
your  board  until  your  books  come." 

I  found  Brackett  had  a  room  for  us  at  Mr.  Snow's  board- 
ing house,  which  stood  on  the  road  that  led  toward  the  Con- 
necticut river,  and  was  just  beyond  the  church. 

The  first  evening  after  my  arrival,  a  young  man  by  the 
name  of  Sprague,  whose  room  was  directly  opposite  ours, 
came  in  to  see  us,  and  told  us  that  we  must  look  out  for  a  tall, 
thin  fellow  by  the  name  of  Spencer,  who  roomed  in  the  same 
hall  and  who  would  report  anything  and  everything  we  did 
that  he  thought  wrong,  and  that  Luther  Wright,  the  principal, 
always  called  by  the  boys  "Boss"  Wright,  liked  him  and  would 
haul  us  up  and  reprimand  us  just  on  his  report.  I  did  not 
like  that,  and  told  Sprague  if  Spencer  ever  tried  that  on  me 
he  would  get  a  dose  which  he  would  remember. 

We  soon  got  to  carrying  on  and  making  a  good  deal  of 
noise.  Before  long  there  was  a  loud  rap  on  the  door.  Sprague 
whispered,  "Spencer."  I  called  out  with  great  vehemence, 


CHAPTER  IV  29 

"busy,"  but  the  door  opened,  and  in  walked  a  tall,  rather  thin, 
gentlemanly  looking  man,  who  I  thought  was  Mr.  Spencer, 
of  course. 

"Go  to  your  room,  Mr.  Sprague,"  were  his  first  words, 
spoken  very  quietly.  ''Don't  you  do  it,  Sprague,  what  do  you 
mind  him  for/'  came  from  my  impertinent  lips,  but  Sprague 
went,  without  standing  upon  the  order  of  his  going.  Then 
turning  to  Brackett  and  me  he  said,  "Do  you  room  here?"  I 
had  thrown  myself  upon  the  bed,  and  looking  up  impertinent- 
ly at  him,  said,  "I  don't  know  as  that  is  any  of  your  business," 
and  after  asking  a  few  more  questions  and  receiving  imperti- 
nent answers  to  them  all,  he  smilingly  bade  us  "good  evening", 
saying,  "I  hope  we  will  become  better  acquainted." 

Soon  as  he  had  left  the  hall,  in  came  Sprague,  saying, 
"You  blessed  fools,  that  wasn't  Spencer,  that  was  Russell 
Wright,  teacher  of  Latin  and  Greek,"  and  looking  at  me,  said, 
"Perhaps  you  will  be  in  his  classes." 

Language  fails  to  describe  my  feelings,  and  I  can  assure 
you  my  first  night  in  Easthampton  was  a  sleepless  one.  The 
next  day  I  took  a  long  walk  toward  the  Connecticut  river,  and 
on  turning  around  to  come  back  saw  I  was  going  to  meet  my 
unwelcomed  acquaintance  of  the  previous  evening.  I  walked 
directly  up  to  him  and  said,  ''Mr.  Russell  Wright,  I  believe." 

I  shall  never  forget  the  pleasant  look  he  gave  me,  and  the 
kindly  intonation  of  his  voice,  as  he  said,  "Yes,"  which  gave 
me  courage,  and  I  said,  ''My  name  is  Strong,"  and  then  told 
him  what  I  had  heard  about  Spencer,  and  that  I  had  gotten 
up  that  dose  for  Spencer,  and  had  unintentionally  given  it  to 


30  CHAPTER  IV 

him,  for  which  I  sincerely  begged  his  pardon.  He  gave  me  a 
little  scolding  for  getting  up  so  saucy  a  dose  for  any  one.  I 
then  told  him  about  the  loss  of  my  books,  etc.,  and  when  we 
reached  my  boarding  house  and  I  was  about  turning  in,  he 
asked  me  to  continue  on  and  go  up  to  his  room  and  see  some 
flowers  he  had,  which  invitation  I  gladly  accepted.  Besides 
Latin  and  Greek,  he  was  also  teacher  of  English  grammar 
and  botany. 

During  our  conversation  he  advised  me  to  enter  the  school 
at  once  and  not  wait  for  my  trunk.  That  he  thought  he  knew 
where  I  could  borrow  books  for  the  short  time  I  would  prob- 
ably need  them,  and  gave  me  the  names  of  several,  so  that 
on  going  around  that  evening  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting 
all  the  books  I  needed,  and  the  next  day  I  enrolled  as  a  student, 
and  was  placed  in  the  proper  classes. 

I  was  very  anxious  to  enter  college  in  the  fall  of  1845,  all(l 
had  read  Latin  arid  Greek  enough  to  do  so,  had  I  been  properly 
instructed,  but  as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  I  was  poor  and 
had  to  work  summers  to  earn  money  to  pay  for  my  schooling 
winters,  so  I  did  not  get  on  as  rapidly  or  correctly  as  I  could 
have  done  had  I  kept  steadily  at  my  work  and  under  the  same 
teachers. 

Another  little  incident  grew  out  of  the  loss  of  my  books 
which  gave  me  a  very  different  impression  of  "Boss"  Wright 
from  what  most  of  the  boys  seemed  to  have  of  him. 

It  was  quite  a  few  days  before  my  trunk  came,  and  when 
it  did,  I  immediately  began  returning  the  books  I  had  bor- 
rowed, one  of  which  was  a  Latin  grammar  to  a  Miss  Miller, 


CHAPTER  IV  31 

I  think ;  and  happening  to  meet  her  on  the  street  gave  her  the 
book  and  thanked  her  for  her  kindness  in  loaning  it  to  me. 
She  took  it  without  saying  a  word,  but  looked  at  me  with  icy 
cold  astonishment,  which  I  construed  as  a  decided  snub,  in- 
tended to  let  me  know  that  she  didn't  want  to  have  anything 
more  to  do  with  me.  1  could  not  understand  it,  but  said  nothing 
about  her  manner  of  treating  me  even  to  Brackett,  for  a  young 
fellow  doesn't  like  to  tell  of  his  being  snubbed,  but  I  found  out 
the  reason  for  her  action  the  next  day. 

Every  student  at  that  time  had  to  attend  religious  exercises 
at  nine  o'clock  every  morning  in  the  main  building,  and  my 
astonishment  the  next  morning  may  be  imagined  when,  as 
soon  as  prayers  were  ended,  "Boss"  Wright  called  out,  "Mr. 
Strong  and  Miss  Miller  will  rise,"  and  then  said,  "It  is  my 
painful  duty  to  reprimand  both  of  you.  It  has  been  reported 
to  me  that  you  two  held  a  conversation  on  the  street  yesterday 
in  open  violation  of  one  of  the  well  known  rules  of  the  school.'' 
As  1  thought  Spencer  must  have  made  the  report,  my 
fiery  temper  couldn't  stand  that,  and  1  said  at  once,  "Mr. 
Wright,  the  person  who  made  that  report  falsified,  and  I  might 
with  truth  use  a  harsher  term."  1  then  in  a  few  words  told 
him  about  the  loss  of  my  books  and  of  my  borrowing  a  Latin 
grammar  of  Miss  Miller,  and  that  my  trunk  came  yesterday 
and  I  started  to  return  Miss  Miller  her  book,  but  happened 
to  meet  her  on  the  street  and  gave  it  to  her,  thanking  her  for 
her  kindness  in  loaning  it  to  me,  a  perfect  stranger,  not  know- 
ing that  1  was  violating  any  rule  of  the  school;  that  she  took 
the  book,  but  never  said  a  word.  Mr.  Wright  then  said,  "That 


32  CHAPTER  IV 

being  the  case,  Miss  Miller  has  not  violated  the  rule  and  may 
be  seated,  and  Mr.  Strong  will  in  the  future  be  a  little  more 
careful  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  evil ;  he  may  be  seated." 

After  school  hours  that  day  I  called  upon  Principal 
Wright,  at  his  house,  and  explained  the  whole  situation  to 
him,  telling  him  that  I  intended  to  obey  the  rules  of  the  school 
strictly.  He  said  if  I  did,  there  would  be  no  trouble,  and  talked 
very  pleasantly  with  me  for  some  time,  and  from  what  he 
said  and  the  way  he  said  it,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
was  a  puritanically  strict  man,  but  that  he  intended  to  be  just, 
and  was  kindly  disposed,  and  I  liked  him  ever  after. 

I  also  called  upon  Miss  Miller  where  she  boarded,  and 
begged  her  pardon  for  unintentionally  placing  her  in  such  an 
embarrassing  position ;  for  to  be  called  to  stand  up  under 
censure  before  an  audience  of  over  three  hundred  young  men, 
and  nearly  one  hundred  young  women,  besides  the  teachers, 
was  exceedingly  embarrassing  to  a  young  lady.  Williston 
Seminary  was  a  school  for  both  sexes  at  that  time,  what  is 
now  called  a  Co-Ed.  institution.  She  said  she  knew  the  rule, 
and  was  astonished  at  my  speaking  to  her  on  the  street.  I 
never  had  any  more  trouble  while  at  Wil;iston. 

Principal  Wright  occasionally  came  to  the  different  class 
rooms  and  listened  to  the  recitation  for  a  while.  I  remember 
his  listening  to  one  in  Virgil  once  where  the  student  pronounced 
the  word  "w-o-u-n-d",  woond.  He  stopped  him  and  said,  "I 
never  fooned  any  good  groond  for  pronooncing  that  woond,  but 
I  have  found  very  good  ground  for  pronouncing  it  wound." 
Although  a  species  of  logic  that  will  not  hold  good  in  any 


CHAPTER  IV  33 

language  I  am  acquainted  with,  except  French,  it  was  a  little 
pleasantry  that  1  have  always  remembered. 

Easthampton  was  a  very  pleasant  New  England  village, 
and  there  was  plenty  of  fun  for  us  boys,  fishing  in  the  canal, 
and  trying  to  catch  lamprey  eels  under  the  bridge. 

It  was  a  pleasant  walk  to  Mount  Tom,  and  often  when  we 
had  time  we  would  walk  to  its  summit,  where  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life  1  saw  a  beautiful  little  lake  on  the  summit  of  a 
mountain.  One  would  suppose  there  would  be  crevices  enough 
through  the  rocks  forming  the  mountain  to  let  the  water  down 
into  the  Connecticut  river  flowing  at  its  base,  but  no,  the 
beautiful  little  lake  remained,  and  for  ought  1  know,  still 
remains  although  it  is  now  (1910)  sixty-five  years  since  1 
have  seen  it. 

When  three  sisters  with  whom  we  were  well  acquainted 
came  from  Rushville,  New  York,  and  entered  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary — then  under  the  charge  of  Miss  Mary  Lyon — 
Brackett  and  1  would  sometimes  go  over  there  to  see  them. 
Miss  Lyon  required  a  letter  from  the  parents  of  the  girls  before 
she  would  allow  us  to  visit  with  them  except  in  the  presence 
of  a  teacher,  which  we  obtained,  and  after  that,  we  were  wel- 
come, and  were  permitted  to  take  them  out  walking. 

At  one  time  the  students  of  Amherst  College  and  the 
young  ladies  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary  joined  in  a  picnic, 
and  a  talented  fellow  by  the  name  ofMarch,  offered  this  toast, 
''Miss  Lyon,  surrounded  by  her  pupils;  a  jewel  set  in  fine 
gold." 

Miss  Lyon  immediately  returned  the  compliment  by  offer- 


34  CHAPTER  IV 

ing  this  toast,  "Mr.  March,  may  the  mind  of  March  keep 
pace  with  the  march  of  mind."  Two  very  complimentary 
and  pretty  toasts.  Several  acquaintances  of  the  young  ladies 
were  fortunate  in  receiving  invitations  to  this  picnic. 

The  founder  of  Williston  Seminary  and  his  wife  were  al- 
ways very  kind,  and  if  any  one  of  the  students  was  sick,  he 
tound  a  father  and  mother  in  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williston. 

At  the  end  of  the  school  year  of  1845,  my  health  had  given 
out  to  such  an  extent  that  I  was  obliged  to  forego  emcrmg 
college  that  fall,  therefore  I  went  home. 

My  health  remained  quite  poor  all  that  winter,  and  in  the 
spring  my  brother  William  wrote  that  he  could  get  me  the 
same  place  in  the  drug  store  that  he  expected  to  get  me  last 
year,  and  if  I. still  desired  to  study  medicine  it  would  be  a  good 
place  for  me  to  begin  doing  it.  I  will  here  state  that  in  those 
days  it  was  considered  the  proper  thing  for  a  doctor  to  know 
how  to  compound  his  own  medicines ;  I  therefore  went  to 
Cleveland  and  began  clerking  for  Mr.  Fisk,  a  druggist  on 
Superior  Street,  at  two  dollars  a  week,  which  was  thought  to 
be  enough  to  pay  my  board.  It  was  my  duty  to  sweep  out  the 
store,  dust  the  bottles,  and  keep  things  looking  tidy  generally. 
Mr.  Fisk  was  a  very  clever,  upright  man,  and  after  I  had  been 
(there  about  a  month,  told  me  that  when  there  was  nothing 
particular  to  be  done  I  could  spend  the  time  reading  books  on 
medicine  which  he  handed  me,  and  advised  me  to  enter  my 
name  in  Dr.  Gregory's  office  as  his  student,  which  I  did. 

Things  went  on  in  this  way  for  some  four  or  five  months 
when  one  day  some  doctor  left  a  prescription  written  in  Latin 


CHAPTER  IV  35 

contractions.  Mr. .Miller,  the  head  clerk,  was  unable  to  make 
it  out,  and  passed  it  up  to  Mr.  Fisk,  who  took  it  and  studied 
it,  but  was  also  unable  to  decipher  it,  which  annoyed  him  ex- 
ceedingly, and  when  passing  me  on  his  way  to  dinner  he  showed 
it  to  me,  saying,  "There,  James,  when  you  can  read  prescrip- 
tions written  like  that  you  can  begin  to  be  a  doctor,"  and  then 
threw  the  paper  on  to  his  desk.  After  he  was  gone  Miller 
began  to  swear  about  the  doctor,  saying  he  was  a  young  fellow 
just  beginning  to  practice  and  that  he  had  used  some  unusual 
contractions  just  to  show  off  his  learning.  1  went  up  to  the 
desk,  took  the  paper,  and  being  right  fresh  from  my  studies 
had  little  difficulty, — with  the  aid  of  the  Lexicon, — in  decipher- 
ing it.  It  so  happened  that  Miller  was  busy  with  a  customer 
until  Mr.  Fisk  returned,  so  I  had  no  opportunity  to  say  any- 
thing to  him,  but  stepped  up  to  Mr.  Fisk  when  he  came  in 
and  read  it  to  him.  He  was  greatly  pleased  and  said  he  would 
rather  have  given  a  thousand  dollars  than  to  have  told  that 
doctor  that  he  couldn't  read  his  prescription,  and  immediately 
called  out,  "Mr.  Miller,  take  James  behind  the  prescription 
counter."  The  next  day  another  boy  was  handling  the  broom, 
and  doing  the  boy's  work,  and  I  was  helping  Miller,  of  course, 
not  putting  up  prescriptions,  but  learning  the  names  and  prices 
of  the  drugs  when  sold  by  themselves,  and  not  compounded 
or  on  prescriptions.  This  gave  me  much  more  time  to  study 
and  as  time  went  on  I  was  given  a  certain  number  of  hours 
to  devote  to  my  chosen  profession.  Everything  moved  on  about 
the  same,  except  a  little  increase  of  salary,  until  the  next  sum- 


36  CHAPTER  IV 

mer,  when  my  health  began  to  run  down  somewhat  and  I 
asked  Mr.  Fisk  for  a  vacation,  which  he  granted. 

Two  of  my  Rushville  schoolmates  had  moved  to  Ypsil- 
anti,  Mich.,  and  settled  upon  a  farm,  and  had  written  asking 
me  to  come  and  visit  them.  This  I  did,  and  had  a  nice  time, 
remaining  two  weeks.  While  I  was  there  a  man  rode  a  very 
handsome  pony  into  the  yard,  which  I  bought,  he  to  deliver 
him  at  the  steamer  dock  in  Detroit  on  a  certain  day.  When 
I  arrived,  there  stood  the  pony,  and  I  took  him  to  Cleveland 
with  me.  My  health  had  not  improved  much,  and  I  began 
riding  the  pony  every  day.  One  day  a  wool  merchant  with 
whom  I  had  become  acquainted  offered  to  pay  me  well  if  I 
would  ride  out  on  the  different  roads  leading  out  of  Cleveland, 
distribute  his  cards  and  hand-bills,  and  ask  wool  growers  to 
take  their  loads  of  wool  to  his  place  of  business  and  induce  as 
many  as  I  could  to  go  to  him  first;  in  short,  act  as  his  solicit- 
ing agent.  This  I  did  for  some  time,  but  my  health  did  not 
improve  much  and  the  doctor  advised  me  to  take  a  much 
longer  vacation.  I,  therefore,  took  my  pony  on  board  a  steam- 
er to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  rode  him  from  there  to  my  mother's 
home  in  Rushville,  where  I  remained  until  Mr.  Fisk  wrote 
wanting  to  know  if  my  health  was  so  poor  as  to  prevent  my 
coming  back. 

My  mother  had  been  wanting  to  visit  brother  William  for 
some  time  but  was  so  afraid  of  traveling  by  water  that  she 
could  not  make  up  her  mind  to  take  a  steamer  on  Lake  Erie 
to  do  so.  It  was  suggested  that  she  take  her  horse  and  buggy, 
and  I  drive  her  to  Cleveland.  This  struck  her  as  quite  feasible, 


CHAPTER  IV  37 

my  having-  driven  horses  so  much  while  peddling-  books,  and 
also  for  Dr.  Gregory,  gave  her  considerable  confidence  in  my 
skill  as  a  driver,  and  she  consented  to  go.  The  day  after  we 
started  there  came  on  a  heavy  rain  which  compelled  us  to  stop 
early  in  the  afternoon,  and  on  starting  next  morning,  although 
the  day  was  fine,  the  mud  was  pretty  bad,  and  when  we  reached 
the  foot  of  Lake  Erie,  just  before  reaching  Buffalo,  it  was 
awful,  and  I  prevailed  upon  mother  to  have  the  horse  and 
buggy  put  on  board  and  go  the  rest  of  the  way  on  a  steamer, 
which  she  reluctantly  did,  and  the  next  day  we  were  in  Cleve- 
land. But  poor  mother  was  dreadfully  sea-sick,  although  it  was 
not  very  rough. 

My  health  did  not  become  as  robust  as  it  ought  to  be, 
and  I  went  to  the  Water-cure  establishment,  about  two  miles 
out  of  Cleveland,  and  was  obliged  to  give  up  my  situation  at 
Mr.  Fisk's. 

Mother  and  I  went  back  to  Rushville  with  the  horse  and 
buggy  after  the  roads  became  good,  late  in  the  spring  and  I 
remained  there  until  the  fall  of  1849. 


HOX.  WILLIAM  STRONG 

This  picture  was  taken  from  a  claguere- 

otype    taken    in    1849. 


CHAPTER  V. 

In  the  fall  of  1849,  brother  William  was  appointed  a 
United  States  Judge  for  the  Territority  of  Oregon,  and  ac- 
cepted the  appointment.  He  was  told  to  be  in  New  York  City 
by  the  middle  of  December,  where  he  would  meet  Governor 
Gaines,  the  newly  appointed  Governor  of  the  Territory,  and 
General  Hamilton,  the  newly  appointed  Secretary,  each  with 
their  families,  to  take  passage  on  the  U.  S.  Store  ship  Supply 
that  was  then  going  to  San  Francisco,  California. 

My  brother  wrote,  giving  the  number  of  his  family  as 
consisting  of  wife,  one  son  five  years  old,  and  one  not  quite 
one  year  old.  He  then  asked  permission  to  take  me,  which  was 
granted. 

On  arriving  in  New  York  about  the  middle  of  December, 
we  found  that  the  Government  had  changed  the  midships  of 
the  Navy  Store  ship  Supply  into  a  cabin,  with  staterooms  on 
each  side  for  the  Territorial  officers  and  their  families,  they 
to  furnish  all  their  own  provisions,  service  and  servants. 

I  do  not  remember  the  exact  day  we  went  on  board  at 
the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  but  I  distinctly  remember  the  four 
next,  as  I  was  most  terribly  seasick.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
fourth  day  I  had  dressed  but  could  not  sit  up,  at  least  I  thought 
so,  but  about  two  hours  before  dark,  I  heard  the  lookout  cry, 
"Sail  Ho,  two  points  off  the  lee  bow."  I  shall  never  forget 
the  feeling  that  cry  gave  me.  I  sprang  from  my  bunk,  ran 
on  deck  and  sat  on  the  seat  that  encircled  the  "poop  deck", 


42  CHAPTER  V 

watching  that  ship  until  even  its  masts  were  hidden  by  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth.  When  supper  was  ready  I  went  down 
into  the  cabin,  partook  lightly  of  it,  and  then  took  my  bunk 
again.  The  next  morning  I  went  to  breakfast,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  end  of  the  journey  around  Cape  Horn  I  never  felt 
a  qualm,  sometimes  lashing  myself  in  the  rigging  to  witness  the 
storms. 

My  health  was  not  good  when  I  left  and  I  heard  that  some 
of  the  officers  made  the  remark  when  they  saw  me  come  on 
board  that  they  were  sorry  to  see  that  young  man  come 
aboard,  they  did  not  like  to  have  a  funeral  at  sea.  How  little 
we  know  what  is  before  us.  Here  I  am  eight-four  years  old, 
having  passed  through  the  Indian  War  of  1855-56,  in  Oregon 
and  Washington  Territories,  and  the  Civil  War,  and  being 
most  severely  wounded,  while  nearly,  if  not  quite,  every  one 
of  the  officers  on  board  the  ship  at  that  time  are  dead.  The 
officers  were,  Capt.  Kennedy,  Lieut.  Winder,  Surgeon  Thorn- 
ley,  and  Past  Midshipmen  Bagger,  Broadhead,  Truxton  and 
McGaw. 

When  we  reached  the  equator  there  was  a  dead  calm, 
and  the  sea  was  as  smooth  as  glass.  The  captain  ordered  a 
boat  to  be  manned  with  a  boatswain  and  eight  oarsmen  and 
had  them  tow  the  vessel.  He  had  a  canopy  placed  over  the 
boat  to  protect  the  men  from  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  they 
would  pull  for  two  hours,  then  be  relieved  by  another  crew. 
This  was  kept  up  day  and  night  until  we  passed  through  the 
"Doldrums."  While  being  thus  towed,  we  passed  close  by  a 
ship  becalmed,  the  captain  of  which  asked  Capt.  Kennedy  to  re- 


CHAPTER  V  43 

port  him  if  we  arrived  in  Rio  Jane'ro  first.  The  Supply 
was  a  very  small  ship  compared  to  ships  that  have 
been  built  for  the  navy  since  that  date,  and  this 
primitive  manner  of  towing"  did  very  well,  as  it 
took  us  along  at  the  rate  of  about  a  mile  an 
hour  for  about  forty  miles,  which  enabled  us  to  reach  Rio 
Janeiro  ten  days  ahead  of  that  other  vessel.  I  was  told  that 
it  was  becalmed  that  number  of  days,  which  shows  that  it  sailed 
as  fast  as  we,  after  it  got  under  way. 

The  harbor  of  Rio  Janeiro  is  a  most  beautiful  one,  and  our 
ship  remained  here  longer  than  we  expected,  for  what  reason 
I  do  not  know,  as  yellow  fever  was  raging  in  the  city  at  the 
time. 

It  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  been  in  a  tropical 
country  and  seen  tropical  fruit  in  such  abundance.  The  first 
time  I  landed  at  the  quay  and  walked  up  on  the  piazza,  I  saw 
many  small  stands  filled  with  fruit,  each  one  tended  by  an  old 
negro  man  or  woman.  Slavery  existed  in  Brazil  at  that  time, 
and  these  negroes  were  tending  these  fruit  stands  for  their 
masters.  I  stepped  up  to  a  stand  that  was  loaded  wih  oranges, 
and  as  I  could  not  speak  the  language — Portuguese — I  handed 
out  a  silver  twenty-five  cent  piece  and  took  up  an  orange  to 
show  the  vender  what  I  wanted.  She  pushed  all  the  oranges 
on  the  table — two  or  three  dozen — toward  me,  and  then  lifted 
up  a  basket  holding  at  least  ten  or  fifteen  dozen  more.  I  saw 
I  was  getting  many  more  than  I  wanted  and  selecting  out  a 
dozen  of  the  finest  ones  pushed  the  rest  back.  She  then  handed 
me  eleven  forty  mill  reis  pieces,  called  "dumps."  On  going 


44  CHAPTER  V 

aboard  ship  I  showed  these  immense  copper  pieces  to  one  of 
the  officers,  and  told  him  how  I  got  them.  He  laughed  at 
me  and  said  I  had  been  cheated,  that  I  ought  to  have  gotten 
twice  as  many  oranges  for  half  the  money,  a  "vinton,"  which 
is  a  twenty  mill  reis  piece.  I  have  one  of  each  of  those  coins 
in  my  possession  now,  as  a  reminder  of  my  first  purchase  in  a 
tropical  country. 

Dom  Pedro  II.  was  then  the  emperor  of  Brazil,  and  had 
a  very  large  and  beautiful  garden,  in  which,  it  was  claimed, 
there  was  a  specimen  of  every  fruit  tree  in  the  world,  as  well 
as  many  that  were  not  fruit  bearers.  Permission  was  given  us 
to  visit  this  garden  whenever  we  wished,  and  several  of  our 
party,  including  myself,  did  so  several  times.  Not  speaking 
the  language  was  a  great  drawback  to  my  receiving  much 
education  from  the  visits.  My  eye  took  in  its  beauties,  how- 
ever, and  up  to  that  time,  it  was  the  most  beautiful  garden 
I  had  ever  seen,  but  having  visited  England  and  France  since 
then  and  seen  all  the  wonderfully  beautiful  gardens  in  Paris, 
that  one  of  the  Brazilian  emperor  falls  far  into  the  back- 
ground. 

Finally  we  left  Rio,  none  of  us  having  as  yet  caught  the 
yellow  fever.  Some  of  the  seamen  had,  however,  and  had  been 
taken  from  the  ship,  but  the  captain,  fearing  he  was  going  to 
have  it,  took  the  ship  to  Saint  Catharines,  a  beautiful  bay  about 
six  hundred  miles  down  the  coast  from  Rio  Janeiro!  Then  our 
sorrows  began. 

On  the  way  down,  my  brother's  little  five  year  old  boy 
died,  and  was  buried  at  sea.  Then  one  of  Gov.  Games' 


CHAPTER  V  45 

daughters,  a  young  lady  grown,  died,  but  as  we  were  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  harbor  she  was  taken  ashore  and  buried 
in  the  garden  of  the  American  Consul  at  that  port.  Another 
of  the  Governor's  daughters,  also  a  young  lady  grown,  was 
sick  with  the  fever,  and  was  taken  ashore,  but  died,  and  was 
buried  by  the  side  of  her  sister.  All  our  party  went  on  shore 
and  boarded  at  a  Spaniard's  named  Don  Antonio,  whose  resi- 
dence was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay  from  that  of  the 
American  Consul.  The  captain  had  the  ship  thoroughly  fumi- 
gated, but  lie  took  the  fever  and  came  very  near  dying  but 
finally  recovered. 

We  remained  at  this  port  a  long,  long  time,  the  officers 
on  the  ship,  and  our  party  on  shore.  If  I  heard  rightly,  the 
reason  for  our  lengthy  stay  here  was  that  the  captain  having 
lost  several  of  his  men  at  Rio  Janeiro  with  the  fever,  waited 
to  recruit,  not  only  his  own  health,  but  also  the  number  of 
his  crew.  None  of  the  other  officers  had  the  fever.  While 
here,  I  went  with  a  number  of  our  party  up  the  bay  about  ten 
miles  to  the  City  of  Saint  Catharines,  to  the  celebration  of 
St.  Patrick's  Day ;  Brazil  being  a  Catholic  country  the  ciaj. 
was  one  of  great  interest.  The  procession  was  unique.  First 
came  a  squad  of  mounted  vigilantes  ;  then  a  regiment  of  negro 
soldiers,  one  of  its  officers  being  an  albino  ;  then  came  a  bishop 
under  a  purple  canopy  borne  by  four  priests,  the  trail  of  his 
purple  robe  held  from  touching  the  ground  by  the  choir  boys ; 
then  came  a  platform  some  ten  feet  wide,  upon  which  was  a 
life  size  wooden  image  of  Christ  bearing  his  cross,  which  was 
also  of  full  size,  this  platform  was  borne  by  twenty  priests; 


46  CHAPTER  V 

then  followed  fifty  little  girls  from  eight  to  twelve  years  of 
age,  in  single  file,  representing  angels,  dressed  in  white  and 
with  beautiful  feather  wings  fastened  to  their  shoulders  as  if 
in  the  act  of  flying,  and  each  carrying  in  her  hand  something 
connected  with  the  crucifixion ;  one  a  nail,  another  a  hammer, 
another  a  sponge,  another  a  spear,  and  so  on,  duplicating  the 
articles  when  necessary. 

This  procession  marched  through  several  streets,  until  it 
arrived  in  front  of  the  church  where  the  soldiers  formed  in 
two  lines,  between  which  the  bishop  passed  into  the  church, 
the  platform  was  lowered,  and  the  image  of  Christ  bearing 
his  cross  taken  into  the  church  and  placed  in  the  niche  pre- 
pared for  it;  the  little  girls  followed  it  and  took  their  places. 
We  were  admitted  into  the  church,  and  saw  the  ceremony  and 
listened  to  the  sermon,  which  none  of  us  could  understand  as 
it  was  delivered  in  Portuguese.  It  was  an  elaborate  and  beau- 
tiful service. 

Don  Antonio's  house,  where  we  boarded,  stood  on  gently 
rising  ground  several  hundred  feet  from  the  shore  of  the  bay, 
surrounded  by  2.  grove  of  alternate  orange  trees  and  coffee- 
bushes.  Coffee,  when  on  the  bush,  grows  like  a  cherry,  the 
flat  side  of  two  berries  being  against  each  other  and  surrounded 
by  a  pulp  which  at  one  stage  of  its  growth  is  red  and  edible 
like  a  cherry,  and  as  it  ripens,  dries  into  a  thin  dry  husk.  Some 
of  our  party  bought  several  sacks  of  this  coffee  in  the  husk 
and  carried  it  to  Oregon  for  the  use  of  their  families  and  found 
that  it  was  much  better  in  flavor  than  any  not  kept  in  the 
husk. 


CHAPTER  V  47 

We  had  not  been  out  at  sea  long  ,after  leaving  St.  Cath- 
arines before  my  brother  was  taken  very  sick  and  Surgeon 
Thornley  thought  him  past  recovery,  but  he  gradually  grew 
better,  and  finally  entirely  recovered,  although  he  was  under 
decks  for  five  weeks. 

When  we  arrived  off  the  Straits  of  Magellan  the  captain 
tried  for  two  days  to  enter  the  straits,  but  being  prevented  by 
dense  fog,  sailed  for  Cape  Horn.  It  was  bright  sunshine  the 
day  we  reached  the  southernmost  rocks  of  the  South  American 
continent  called  Cape  Horn,  and  we  passed  so  near  that  the 
Crocks  were  plainly  visible,  and  by  night  we  were  fairly  around 
and  out  of  sight  of  them,  and  our  party  were  congratulating 
ourselves  upon  our  good  luck  in  having  escaped  the  stormy 
weather  we  had  been  told  to  expect  at  that  season  of  the  year. 
It  proved,  however,  to  be  a  good  illustration  of  the  old  motto, 
"Where  ignorance  is  bliss,  'tis  folly  to  be  wise,"  for  just  before 
reaching  the  seventy-fifth  degree  of  west  longitude  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  fearful  storm  from  the  north,  with  sails  reefed 
to  the  utmost,  and  weather  so  cold  that  the  spray  froze  hard  on 
the  ropes,  so  that  the  sailors  were  obliged  to  vigorously  knock 
the  ice  from  them  with  blay-pins  before  they  could  run  them 
through  the  blocks.  We  were  driven  down  to  the  sixtieth 
degree  of  south  latitude,  and  were  over  a  week  regaining  the 
latitude  of  the  Cape.  That  was  what  the  captain  feared,  and 
was  the  reason  why  he  tried  so  long  to  enter  the  Straits,  bin 
after  we  did  regain  that  latitude  on  the  west  coast,  we  met 
with  no  more  storms,  and  when  we  struck  the  trade  winds  we 
sailed  for  ten  days  under  full  sail  with  studding-sails  all  set. 


48  CHAPTER  V 

During  this  ten  days  the  sailors  scarcely  touched  a  rope,  which 
gave  them  a  little  rest  after  their  strenuous  labor  during-  "our 
attempt  to  discover  the  south  pole,"  as  some  of  the  officers 
facetiously  termed  it. 

We  reached  Valparaiso,  Chile,  in  due  time,  and  went  on 
shore  to  live,  and  here  it  was  that  I  had  my  first  experience  of 
earthquakes,  as  several  occurred  during  our  stay  there,  which 
was  quite  prolonged,  for  what  reason  I  do  not  know.  None 
of  the  earthquakes  were  very  severe,  but  severe  enough  to 
satisfy  all  my  curiosity  in  regard  to  them.  At  one  time  there 
happened  to  be  a  large  drove  of  burros,  coming  down  the 
main  street,  each  loaded  with  two  bricks  of  copper,  weighing, 
I  was  told,  fifty  pounds  each,  one  on  each  side  of  his  back, 
lashed  to  a  most  primitive  saddle.  The  moment  the  tremor 
was  perceptible,  down  went  the  burros  and  all  began  to  bray, 
making  as  much,  if  not  more,  noise  than  the  earthquake.  At 
first  one  was  tempted  to  laugh  at  the  sight,  but  all  such  feelings 
were  changed  to  pity  when  the  drivers  were  getting  them  upon 
their  feet  again,  such  extreme  cruelty  was  used,  but  as  the 
best  of  burros  could  be  bought  for  fifty  cents  singly,  and 
probably  for  much  less  in  numbers,  their  commercial  value 
counted  little  to  their  cruel  drivers.  The  copper,  I  was  told, 
came  from  smelters  in  the  interior  of  the  country. 

Some  of  us  took  horses  and  rode  into  the  country,  but  as 
none  of  us  spoke  the  language,  "Spanish/'  sufficiently  well  we 
did  not  go  to  Santiago  as  we  expected  to,  but  we  saw  fruit 
in  great  abundance,  and  very  cheap.  Our  party  was  invited 


CHAPTER  V  49 

to  several  social  functions,  but  having  passed  through  so 
much  sorrow,  only  a  few  attended. 

On  receipt  of  a  notice  from  Capt.  Kennedy  that  the  ship 
would  sail  on  a  certain  day  our  party  sent  on  board  such  pro- 
visions, fruit  etc.,  as  they  wished,  and  went  on  board  just  the 
day  before  the  ship  sailed.  Some  of  them  had  sent  their 
servant  girls  on  board,  two  or  three  days  before,  to  ger  me 
cabin  and  staterooms  in  order,  and  when  we  went  aboard  it 
was  found  that  one  of  the  girls  had  eloped  with  one  of  the 
crew,  who  had  deserted.  Every  effort  to  find  them  was  un- 
availing, and  the  ship  sailed  without  them. 

We  had  an  uneventful  voyage  between  Valparaiso  and 
San  Francisco,  until,  on  attempting  to  enter  the  Golden  Gate, 
we  came  very  near  running  on  to  the  rocks  on  the  north  of  it, 
on  account  of  a  dense  fog-  The  "Lookout"  cried,  "Breakers 
ahead"  ;  he  could  see  nothing,  but  heard  them.  Capt.  Kenned} 
was  standing  on  the  bow,  and  I  was  standing  near  him  when 
all  at  once  we  could  hear  the  breakers  directly  ahead.  Capt. 
Kennedy  was  a  fine  sailor,  and  had  everything  in  readiness 
for  quick  action  in  case  it  should  be  necessary ;  he  immediate- 
ly gave  the  proper  orders  and  the  ship  swung  around  just  in 
time,  and  as  she  swung  broadside  to  the  rocks  we  could  see 
that  we  had  just  missed  them.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day  we  entered  the  Golden  Gate  and  anchored,  having  been 
fifty-two  days  at  sea  between  Valparaiso  and  San  Francisco. 

Here  our  party  was  transferred  to  the  Sloop  of  War, 
Pal  month,  Captain  Pettigrew,  who  had  received  orders  to  take 
us  to  "Astoria,  on  the  Columbia  river,  Oregon,"  which  he  did, 


50  CHAPTER  V 

arriving  there  on  August  13,  1850.  Surgeon  F.  M.  Gunnell. 
who  afterwards  became  Surgeon  General  of  the  Navy,  was 
the  surgeon  of  the  Falmonth,  at  that  time. 

The  officers  had  been  told  that  there  was  a  small  river 
steamer,  the  Multnomah,  that  ran  on  the  Columbia,  upon  which 
they  could  take  passage,  but  on  reaching  Astoria  they  found 
she  was  laid  up  for  repairs,  and  that  Capt.  Hoyt,  her  captain, 
had  gone  to  San  Francisco  for  the  machinery  needed ;  they 
also  learned  that  the  Multnomah  was  the  only  one  on  the  river 
except  the  mail  steamer  which  ran  between  San  Francisco  and 
the  Columbia  river  once  a  month,  and  that  it  would  be  about 
three  weeks  before  she  was  due  again.  Captain  Pettigrew 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  take  us  up  the  river.  He  said  that 
personally  he  would  be  glad  to  do  so,  but  his  orders  were  to 
take  us  to  Astoria,  and  return  to  San  Francisco. 

It  is  very  difficult  for  persons  who  have  never  been  placed 
in  such  a  position  to  realize  the  situation ;  no  railroads,  no 
telegraphs,  no  mails,  even,  except  once  a  month,  so  the  only 
thing  to  be  done  was  to  go  ashore  and  find  some  way  of 
getting  up  the  river. 

The  next  day  after  we  landed,  a  man  who  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  came  from  Scar- 
borough Point  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  and  suggested  that 
Governor  Gaines  send  an  Indian  Messenger  to  Chief  Factor 
Ogden,  saying,  that  if  he  sent  for  us, — and  he  had  no  doubt 
but  that  he  would, — it  would  be  the  quickest  way  in  which 
the  officers  could  reach  Oregon  City,  which  at  that  time  was 
the  capital  of  the  territory. 


CHAPTER  V  51 

We  were  much  surprised  to  see  this  messenger  start  off 
on  this  long  trip,  on  one  of  the  largest  rivers  in  the  world, 
in  one  of  the  smallest  canoes  in  which  a  man  could 
ride.  It  would  carry  but  one  person,  and  that  one,  unless  an 
Indian,  would  have  to  be  an  expert  to  keep  it  right  side  up 
even  in  perfectly  smooth  water. 

It  can  well  be  imagined  that  the  few  days  we  remained 
there  awaiting  Chief  Factor  Ogden's  reply  were  anxious  ones, 
but  they  passed  quickly  as  everything  was  new  and  strange 
to  us.  While  waiting,  the  officers  obtained  all  the  information 
they  could  as  to  the  size  of  the  boat  he  would  probably  send, 
if  he  sent  any,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  all  could  not 
go,  then  just  the  officers  would,  the  others  should  wait  for 
the  mail  steamer,  and  this  old  attache  showed  us  how  to  pack 
our  necessary  articles  in  the  most  compact  form  for  packing 
in  a  batteau,  the  rest  of  the  goods  that  we  brought  on  the  Pal- 
mouth  were  stored.  Nearly  all  our  goods  brought  from  the 
States  on  the  Supply  were  not  transferred  to  the  Falmouth, 
but  left  in  San  Francisco. 

In  a  few  days  one  of  the  largest  batteaux  in  the  company's 
service  arrived,  bringing  a  cordial  welcome  from  Chief  Factor 
Ogden,  and  it  was  found  that  by  reducing  the  baggage  tc 
mere  necessities,  all  of  us  could  go  together.  This  was  done, 
and  when  the  tide  began  to  flood  the  next  day  we  startea. 
This  was  indeed  a  novel  mode  of  traveling  for  our  party,  for 
none  of  us  had  ever  experienced  any  frontier  life.  The  tide 
made  a  very  strong  current  up  stream  and  we  reached  Cath- 
lamct,  twenty-five  miles  from  Astoria,  for  our  first  night.  This 


52  CHAPTER  V 

was  a  most  beautiful  location  and  Mr.  James  Birnie,  a  retired 
Chief  Trader  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  lived  here  with 
his  family.  He  had  a  store  and  did  a  large  business  with  the 
Indians.  Mrs.  Birnie  cared  for  the  ladies  of  our  party,  and 
the  men  slept  in  their  blankets  under  the  trees. 

The  next  day  at  flood  tide  we  started  on,  going  ashore 
whenever  necessary,  and  stopping  at  night  wherever  the  man 
in  charge  of  the  batteau  thought  best.  We  would  get  our 
supper,  roll  up  in  our  blankets  on  the  ground  for  the  night, 
get  our  breakfast  in  the  morning,  and  then  start  on. 

In  a  few  days  we  arrived  at  Fort  Vancouver  and  were 
met  by  Chief  Factor  Ogden,  who  kindly  invited  us  all  to  ac- 
cept his  hospitalities  for  such  time  as  we  desired,  but  as  the 
officers  all  wished  to  go  on  he  offered  to  send  them  at  once,  so, 
after  thanking  him  most  heartily  for  his  kindness,  all  our  party, 
except  my  brother's  wife  and  baby,  went  to  Oregon  City  in 
the  same  batteau.  The  baby  having  taken  a  severe  cold,  she 
thought  she  must  remain  and  keep  him  from  any  more  ex- 
posure until  the  arrival  of  the  balance  of  our  goods,  which 
were  expected  to  come  by  the  next  mail  steamer  from  San 
Francisco.  I  remained  with  her,  and  in  a  short  time  my  brother 
returned,  and  I  went  to  Oregon  City  in  a  canoe,  paddled  by 
Indians. 

There  were  no  houses  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  at 
Portland,  and  very  few  on  the  west  and  between  Portland  and 
Oregon  City  there  was  a  sandbar  on  which  at  that  time  the 
water  was  so  shallow  that  batteaux  and  even  canoes  had  to  be 


CHAPTER  T  53 

poled  over  it,  although  the  water  at  that  time  was  pouring  over 
the  falls  at  Oregon  City. 

Here  I  learned  that,  a  little  over  two  months  prior  to  that 
time,  five  Indians  had  been  hanged  there  for  the  part  they 
took  in  the  massacre  of  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  his  wife,  and 
several  others  at  the  Whitman  Mission.  The  massacre  took 
place  on  November  29th,  1847,  an(l  these  Indians  were  hanged 
in  June,  1850.  I  was  greatly  interested  in  everything  relating 
to  Dr.  Whitman,  as  can  readily  be  seen  I  would  be,  and  have 
written  an  account  of  what  1  learned  about  his  massacre  dur- 
ing the  six  years  I  lived  in  Oregon  and  Washington  Terri- 
tories. 

I  do  not  remember  when  I  first  heard  of  the  massacre,  but 
after  my  health  became  so  poor  that  I  was  obliged  to  leave 
Mr.  Fisk's  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  brother  William  advised  me 
to  give  up  the  study  of  medicine,  and  study  law,  and  from  that 
time  on  what  study  I  did  was  under  his  direction. 

There  were  three  Judges  in  the  U.  S.  District  Court  of 
Oregon  and  when  that  court  met,  it  appointed  me  Clerk  of  the 
first  Judical  District,  which  office  I  held  until  Oregon  was 
divided,  and  Washington  Territory  created. 

When  I  first  arrived  in  Oregon  I  was  told  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  language  called  "Chinook  Jargon,"  which  had  been 
used  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  all  its  dealings  with  the 
Indians,  would  not  only  be  interesting,  but  useful  to  me,  so  I 
never  missed  an  opportunity  of  perfecting  myself  in  it,  as  I 
expected  to  live  here  the  remainder  of  my  life. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

In  1850  and  '51  there  were  but  few  white  men  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Columbia  river,  except  those  connected  with 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  I  took  up  my  residence  at  Cath- 
lamet  in  the  fall  of  1850,  and  with  two  men  looked  after  the 
getting  out  of  the  logs  for  brother  William's  house  on  the 
claim  he  had  taken  up.  He  and  his  wife  planned  the  house 
and  selected  the  spot  it  was  to  occupy,  and  we  worked  at  it  the 
best  we  could.  We  also  cleared  off  some  land  at  the  old  Indian 
village  for  a  garden.  I  did  not  remain  there  steadily,  but  at- 
tended to  my  duties  as  Clerk  of  the  Court. 

Brother  William's  wife  was  a  highly  educated  woman, 
a  graduate  of  one  of  the  best  seminaries  for  young  ladies  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  although  knowing  she  would  be 
deprived  to  a  great  extent  of  almost  every  comfort  to  which 
she  had  been  accustomed,  still,  she  had  the  courage  to  urge 
on  the  building  of  the  log  house,  and  late  in  the  next  spring 
(1851)  was  living  in  her  own  home  at  Cathlamet,  with  two 
fine  baby  boys. 

There  were  always  quite  a  large  number  of  Indians  living- 
near,  and  at  first  she  was  very  much  annoyed  at  having  them 
come  into  the  house  without  announcing  their  intention  of  so 
doing,  squat  down  on  her  floors  wherever  they  pleased  ana 
watch  her  every  move.  I  can  assure  you  it  required  no  little 
amount  of  courage  for  a  woman  with  two  young  babies,  and 
not  accustomed  to  Indians,  to  do  that. 


CHAPTER  VI  55 

As  time  went  on  the  house  was  made  more  and  more 
comfortable,  and  more  people  settled  in  the  valley  of  the  Elo- 
hamon  river,  the  soil  of  which  was  very  rich,  and  heavily 
timbered,  and  their  only  outlet  was  through  Cathlamet,  which 
continued  to  grow  rapidly. 

During-  the  summer  of  1850,  before  going  to  Cathlamet  to 
reside,  also  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1851,  and  much 
of  1852,  -3  and  -4,  I  spent  at  Fort  Vancouver,  and  in  traveling 
up  and  down  the  rivers.  While  at  Fort  Vancouver,  T  became 
well  acquainted  with  Major  Rufus  Ingalls,  then  Quartermaster 
at  the  U.  S.  Army  Post  at  Fort  Vancouver,  and  with  several 
officers  of  the  Army  stationed  there,  among  whom  (later  on), 
was  Capt.  U.  S.  Grant,  as  well  as  with  the  officers  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Co.  I  cannot  remember  the  date,  but  on  meeting 
Chief  Factor  Ogden  one  day  he  invited  me  to  come  and  live 
at  his  table,  whenever  I  came  to  Fort  Vancouver,  and  gave 
me  a  room  which  he  said  I  could  occupy  whenever  I  wished. 

Cathlamet  was  my  home,  and  it  was  growing  very  fast, 
and  when  I  wished  to  build  my  house,  I  went  to  San  Francisco 
and  bought  everything  necessary  for  it,  that  I  could  find  already 
made,  including  white  paint,  and  ordered  them  shipped  to 
Cathlamet.  They  shipped  them  on  a  small  sailing  vessel,  which, 
unfortunately,  was  blown  ashore  and  lost.  Soon  as  I  learned 
that  fact  I  went  to  San  Francisco  again  and  duplicated  the 
order. 

From  the  summer  of  1851,  I  had  business  either  for  my- 
self or  others  that  called  me  to  San  Francisco,  once,  and  some- 
times twice  a  year,  but  I  think  it  was  on  this  trip  that  I  met 


56  CHAPTER  VI 

my  old  schoolmate,  Henry  M.  Brackett,  and  persuaded  him 
to  go  up  to  Cathlamet  with  me.  We  had  lost  track  of  each 
other,  and  he  had  had  hard  luck,  having  lost  everything  he 
possessed  in  a  fire,  barely  escaping  with  his  life. 

After  my  house  was  built,  brother  Charles,  who  had  comt 
to  Cathlamet,  Brackett  and  myself  kept  house  in  it,  taking 
turns  doing  our  own  cooking. 

As  time  went  on,  division  of  the  Territory  of  Oregon 
began  to  be  talked  about,  of  which  all  of  us  at  Cathlamet 
were  in  favor. 

Before  the  Territory  was  divided,  when  the  subject  of 
having  a  wagon  road  from  the  Columbia  river  to  Puget  Sound 
was  being  agitated,  in  company  with  Mr.  Dray,  William  Ander- 
son, William  Stillwell,  Newell  Brewer  (settlers  in  the  valley 
back  of  Cathamet)  and  two  Indians,  I  surveyed  a  line  for  a 
road  from  Cathlamet  to  Boisfort  prairie,  but  found  it  imprac- 
ticable, as  road  building  was  then  understood,  the  expenses 
of  this  survey  were  borne  by  the  interested  parties. 

We  had  engaged  a  young  man  with  whom  1  was  ac- 
quainted, to  go  with  the  party  as  surveyor;  he  had  come  to 
Cathlamet,  and  the  party  was  nearly  ready  to  start,  when  he 
unfortunately  cut  his  foot  so  badly  with  the  hatchet,  while 
sharpening  a  stake,  as  to  prevent  his  going;  so  I  had  to  go. 

Speaking  of  my  going  as  surveyor  puts  me  in  mind  of  an 
incident  which  I  will  be  pardoned  for  mentioning  here,  though 
a  digression;  that  another  person  (whose  name  I  cannot  now 
recall)  and  myself  surveyed  the  east  part  of  Mrs.  Esther 
Short's  land  claim  at  Fort  Vancouver,  into  city  lots,  streets, 


CHAPTER  VI  57 

etc.,  and  that  the  first  Legislative  Assembly  of  Washington 
Territory,  on  March  15,  1854,  passed  an  act  naming  this  land 
of  Mrs.  Short's,  so  surveyed  by  us,  "Columbia  City,"  and 
made  it  the  county  seat  of  Clarke  County.  It  was  where  Van- 
couver on  the  Columbia  river  now  stands. 

We  had  a  pretty  hard  time  of  it  surveying  that  road,  as  it 
took  much  longer  than  we  expected,  and  the  packer  was  care- 
less and  lost  or  wasted  not  only  our  provisions,  but  our  ammu- 
nition as  well,  so  that  we  were  without  food  for  five  days,  but 
we  had  plenty  of  fresh,  cool,  mountain  water. 

It  was  on  this  expedition  that  I,  while  sitting  on  a  knoll 
writing  up  my  notes,  was  made  and'  held  a  prisoner  under  a 
fallen  tree  by  two  elk  ;  had  they  known  enough  to  have  placed 
themselves  one  on  each  side  of  the  tree,  instead  of  both  re- 
maining on  the  same  side,  they  could  have  reached  me,  and 
would  undoubtedly  have  put  me  out  of  commission  before  any 
of  my  party  arrived. 

All  the  property  owners  interested  in  the  growth  of  Cath- 
lamet  joined  forces  and  built  a  wharf,  but  I  do  not  remember 
the  date. 

We,  whose  address  was  Cathlamet,  had  to  have  our  mail 
from  the  States  left  at  Astoria,  and  brought  up  from  there  by 
the  little  river  steamer,  which  sometimes  added  several  clays 
to  the  usual  thirty  from  New  York  to  Astoria.  We  persuaded 
Mr.  Birnie  to  take  the  Postmastership,  which  he  consented  to 
do,  provided  Brackett  and  myself  would  be  appointed  deputies, 
and  agree  to  do  all  the  work.  In  due  time  the  Post  Office  was 
established  in  Mr.  Birnie's  store,  and  many  an  hour  both  night 


58  CHAPTER  VI 

and  day  have  Brackett  and  myself  watched  for  the  ocean  steam- 
er, pulled  out  to  her,  and  exchanged  mail  bags. 

In  the  fall  of  1852,  there  were  settlers  enough  north  of  the 
Columbia  river  to  call  a  convention,  which  convened  on  Nov. 
25,  1852,  at  Monticello,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cowlitz  river, 
and  petitioned  Congress  to  create  the  Territory  of  "Columbia'' 
out  of  the  northern  part  of  Oregon. 

The  petitioners  were  somewhat  surprised  to  learn  that 
Congress  not  only  refused  to  name  the  new  Territory  "Colum- 
bia," but  insisted  upon  naming  it  "Washington,"  to  which  the 
persons  having  the  matter  in  charge  were  obliged  to  consent, 
and  it  was  only  about  fifteen  months  from  the  date  of  holding 
that  convention  that  Oregon  was  divided,  and  the  'Territory  of 
Washington''  was  in  political  running  order. 

Its  first  Legislative  Assembly  convened  at  Olympia,  on 
Feb.  27,  1854.  I  was  duly  elected  a  member  of  the  House,  but 
was  not  sworn  in  until  April  i4th  (as  can  be  seen  on  page 
ninety-seven  of  the  Journal  of  the  House  of  that  session),  and 
served  to  the  end  of  the  session. 

In  the  winter  of  1852-3,  Capt.  U.  S.  Grant  came  to  Fort 
Vancouver,  and  remained  until  the  fall  of  1854,  during  which 
time  he  and  brother  William  became  such  warm  friends  that 
he  would  sometimes  get  a  ''Leave  of  Absence"  and  spend  it 
at  brother  William's  house  at  Cathlamet.  In  this  way  I  be- 
came quite  well  acquainted  with  him.  Capt.  Grant  was  » 
quiet,  taciturn  man,  very  energetic,  and  determined  to  accom- 
plish whatever  he  undertook — as  any  one  could  see  by  the  wav 
he  worked  at  a  field  of  potatoes,  or  garden  truck  of  some  kind, 


CHAPTER  VI  59 

while  there  at  Fort  Vancouver — but  very  much  inclined  to 
look  upon  the  dark  side  of  life ;  while  brother  William  was  jolly, 
full  of  life,  fond  of  telling  laughable  stories,  witty,  and  always 
good  company.  Why  I  mention  this  about  Capt.  Grant  will 
be  seen  later  on. 

Xot  long  after  the  Legislature  adjourned,  John  S.  Clen- 
denin,  Esq.,  the  L~.  S.  Attorney  for  the  Territory  of  Wash- 
ington, appointed  me  "Assistant  U.  S.  Attorney  for  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Washington,"  and  placing  me  in  charge  of  all 
his  business,  left  for  the  States.  The  next  year  at  the  general 
election  I  was  elected  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  the  Tst  Judicial 
District  of  the  Territory  of  Washington. 

When  the  Indian  War  broke  out  I  joined  a  company  and 
served  until  discharged. 

I  had  .taken  every  opportunity  to  perfect  myself  in  the 
Chinook  Jargon ;  my  best  teacher  being  ''Wah-kee-nah,"  an 
Indian  girl  who  lived  in  my  brother  William's  family,  and 
of  whom  I  have  written  in  a  book  published  in  1893,  entitled 
"WAH-KEE-NAH,  and  Her  People,  the  Curious  Customs, 
Traditions,  and  Legends  of  the  North  American  Indians.'' 

I  proved  to  be  a  very  apt  scholar  and  learned  to  speak 
it  so  fluently,  and  pronounce  it  so  accurately,  that  I  was  often 
told  by  Indians,  "Mica  waiva  siwas/i  uwwa  Jiias  close1' ,  mean- 
ing, "You  speak  the  Indian  language  very  well."  I  remember 
quite  a  good  deal  of  it  even  now. 

In  the  spring  of  1856,  the  Judges  concluded  that  ou  ac- 
count of  the  war  they  would  not  hold  any  courts  until  fall, 
that  the  farmers  might  put  in  their  crops,  repair  damages,  etc., 


60  CHAPTER  VI 

so  about  the  middle  of  July,  1856,  John  D.  Biles,  who  was 
then  Clerk  of  the  ist  Judicial  District  of  Washington  Terri- 
tory, and  who  was  a  member  of  the  House  in  the  First  Legis- 
lature at  the  same  time  I  was,  and  myself  left  for  the  States, 
both  expecting  to  return  prior  to  the  holding  of  any  Courts. 
He  returned  but  I  did  not,  for  the  following  reason. 

My  aged  mother  had  moved  from  Rushville  to  Rockford, 
Illinois,  and  was  very  much  opposed  to  my  going  back,  and 
when  it  came  near  the  time  for  me  to  start,  became  seriously 
ill,  and  asked  me  to  promise  her  that  I  would  not  return  so 
long  as  she  lived,  which  I  did.  She  then  began  to  improve  and 
lived  nearly  five  years,  dying  about  two  months  prior  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War. 

Remaining  in  the  East  in  1856  was  a  great  disappoint- 
ment to  me  as  all  my  interests  lay  in  the  Territory  of  Wash- 
ington, but  I  considered  my  duty  to  my  aged  mother  para- 
mount to  all  others. 

After  making  this  promise  to  my  mother  I  resigned  my 
offices  in  Washington  Territory,  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  my  brother  John  C. — the  other  one  of  my  brothers  who 
graduated  at  Yale  College — who  was  then  practicing  law  in 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  went  there  to  live. 

On  November  i,  1859,  I  married  Miss  Emily  Kennett 
Efner,  youngest  daughter  of  Mr.  Elijah  D.  Efner  a  pioneer 
of  Buffalo,  from  1809.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812; 
was  with  the  troops  under  General  Hull  when  Detroit  sur- 
rendered to  the  British.  He  firmly  believed  that  the  surrender 
was  obtained  by  the  British  firing  gold  at  the  general,  instead 


CHAPTER  VI  61 

of  lead  at  the  soldiers.  When  Buffalo  was  attacked,  he  helped 
man  a  field-piece  on  Alain  Street,  and  kept  firing  into  the 
British  and  Indians  as  they  came  up  Niagara  Street  from 
Black  Rock,  until  his  position  was  nearly  flanked  on  both  right 
and  left. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  I  began  immediately  to 
raise  a  company,  was  elected  its  Captain,  and  sent  to  Elmira, 
N.  Y.r  where  the  company  was  mustered  in  as  Co.  UE"  2ist 
Regt.  N.  Y.  Vol.  Inft,  my  commission  as  Captain  giving  me 
Rank  from  May  7,  1861.  The  regiment  was  commanded  by  Col- 
onel William  F.  Rogers, — afterwards  Brig.  General,  and  mem- 
ber of  Congress — as  brave  and  noble  hearted  man  as  ever 
lived.  He  passed  through  seventeen  battles,  and  many  skir- 
mishes without  receiving  a  single  wound. 

Some  time  after  the  regiment  arrived  at  Washington,  D. 
C.,  Col.  Rogers  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  Fort  Run- 
yon,  which  was  a  little  less  than  a  mile  south  of  the  Long 
Bridge.  Here  the  regiment  remained  until  after  the  first  battle 
of  Bull  Run. 

While  here,  Col.  Rogers  ordered  me  to  take  my  company 
and  guard  the  Long  Bridge,  my  headquarters  being  in  what 
was  formerly  a  brick  tavern,  a  short  distance  from  the  south 
end  of  the  bridge.  It  was  here  that  some  incidents  quite  il- 
lustrative of  soldier  life  occurred,  for  the  comical  and  grave 
were  often  mixed,  and  when  an  amusing  thing  happened  it 
gave  zest  to  an  otherwise  dull  and  monotonous  life  while  in 
camp,  doing  merely  daily  routine  duty. 

The  Long  Bridge  spanned  the  Potomac  on  the  road  leading 
from  Washington,  ,D.  C.,  into  Virginia, 


CHAPTER  VII  63 

About  two  o'clock  one  morning  the  corporal  of  the  guard 
came  to  my  quarters,  saying,  "Captain,  we  have  arrested  a 
man  and  woman  ;  they  are  on  horseback  and  want  to  cross  over 
into  Virginia.  The  man  is  in  a  general's  uniform,  but  hasn't 
the  countersign.  He  says  he  is  General  McDowell,  and  that 
the  woman  is  his  wife.  I  think  he  is  giving  us  the  bluff.  I 
don't  believe  he  is  General  McDowell  any  more  than  I  am. 
He  asked  me  who  the  Captain  of  this  company  was,  and  when 
I  told  him,  he  said  he  knew  you  and  wanted  me  to  take  him 
to  you  and  not  put  him  in  the  "lock  up."  I  think  it  is  all  a 
-  bluff." 

I  dressed,  took  my  lantern  and  went  out  to  the  street.  I 
was  accosted  with,  "Well,  Capt.  Strong,  my  wife  and  I  are 
your  prisoners,  I  hope  you  treat  prisoners  kindly."  I  flashed 
the  light  of  my  lantern  into  his  face  and  saw  at  once  that  it 
was  General  McDowell,  and  then  said,  "Why,  General,  how 
is  this?"  He  said  that  he  and  his  wife  had  been  at  a  gather- 
ing of  friends  in  Washington,  and  that  he  had  forgotten  the 
countersign,  and  asked  me  to  give  it  to  him,  which,  of  course, 
I  did.  He  complimented  the  guards  for  doing  their  duty  in 
not  accepting  his  word,  and  letting  him  pass,  and  bidding  us 
all  good-night,  galloped  off  toward  Arlington  Heights,  where 
he  then  had  his  quarters. 

Another  thing  occurred  at  the  same  place  which  shows 
how  matters  sometimes  go  among  the  soldiers  themselves.  One 
evening,  when  standing  on  the  bank  of  the  river  which  formed 
a  little  bay  near  our  quarters,  I  saw  a  cork  floating  on  the 
water  some  little  distance  from  shore,  My  attention  was  called 


64  CHAPTER  VII 

to  it  by  the  fact  that  it  would  sink  under  the  little  waves  made 
by  the  wind,  and  bob  up  again  in  the  same  place.  This  excited 
my  curiosity,  and  getting  into  a  small  boat  I  went  out  to  the 
cork.  Judge  of  my  surprise  on  rinding  it  tied  to  a  string, 
and  the  string  to  a  sunken  canteen.  I  then  went  hunting  for 
corks  and  found  two  or  three  more  to  each  of  which  was 
attached  a  canteen  containing  more  or  less  whisky.  Ah ! 
thought  I,  now  I  will  surely  catch  the  boys  who  disobey  or- 
ders— for  it  was  strictly  against  orders  to  bring  whisky  into 
camp — so  I  took  the  canteens  to  my  quarters  and  ordered  an 
inspection  to  take  place  the  first  thing  the  next  morning.  It 
was  too  late  to  have  one  that  evening  and  I  said  nothing  about 
the  canteens.  But  the  boys  were  too  smart  for  me,  for  on 
inspection  I  found  one  of  the  best  sergeants,  and  some  of  the 
best  men,  none  of  whom  could  be  suspected  of  such  a  dis- 
obedience of  orders,  and  none  of  whom  drank  whisky,  minus 
a  canteen.  The  fact  was  that  the  men  to  whom  the  canteens 
belonged  had  carried  on  a  wholesale  stealing  business  during 
the  night  and  supplied  themselves  with  canteens.  My  plan 
for  catching  the  guilty  ones  had  signally  failed,  and  all  that 
was  left  for  me  to  do  was  to  pour  out  the  whisky  and  send 
the  canteens  to  the  company's  quarters,  knowing  that  the  boys 
who  owned  them  were  laughing  in  their  sleeves  at  how  nicely 
they  had  outwitted  the  Captain. 

Another  thing  occurred  at  the  same  place.  One  day  the 
sergeant  of  the  guard  reported  to  me  that  he  had  arrested  a 
man  who  was  coming  across  the  bridge  with  a  two-horse 
wagon-load  of  old  stable  manure,  which  he  said  he  was  going 


CHAPTER  VII  65 

to  put  on  his  farm.  The  sergeant  said  he  suspected  the  man 
had  something  hidden  in  the  load.  I  went  with  him  to  where 
the  man  and  his  wagon  had  been  left  under  guard,  and  talked 
with  the  man.  He  was  very  angry  at  what  he  said  was  a 
gross  injustice,  and  with  many  oaths  protested  his  innocence 
and  said  it  had  come  to  pretty  pass  if  an  honest  farmer  couldn't 
haul  a  load  of  manure  to  put  on  his  farm  without  being  ar- 
rested. There  was  something  about  the  man's  looks  and  ac- 
tions that  made  me  think  the  sergeant's  suspicions  were  well 
founded.  It  was  a  very  large,  high  load,  and  I  ordered  the 
sergeant  to  have  two  of  the  men  unload  the  wagon.  1  noticed 
the  man  began  to  turn  pale  when  the  men  mounted  the  wagon, 
and  when  they  began  pitching  oft"  the  load  he  turned  white  as 
a  sheet.  In  a  short  time  the  men  hoisted  out  a  large  keg.  By 
this  time  the  man  was  trembling  like  a  leaf  and  began  to  beg 
for  his  life.  He  then  confessed  that  it  was  whisky,  and  I  sent 
him  with  his  whisky,  team  and  load  to  Col.  Rogers,  who  gave 
him  a  talking  to,  confiscated  the  whisky,  and  let  him  go  home 
with  his  team  and  load. 

Ihe  land  around  these  quarters  was  low  and  wet  and 
after  awhile  many  of  the  men  became  sick,  and  we  were  re- 
lieved by  another  company,  returned  to  Fort  Runyon  and  did 
duty  with  the  regiment  for  quite  a  long  time. 

1  am  not  attempting  to  follow  exact  dates  in  giving  an  ac- 
count of  my  personal  happenings.  After  awhile,  and  after  the 
regiment  had  left  Fort  Runyon,  1  was  taken  sick  and  went 
home  on  a  thirty  days  "Sick  Leave."  Before  it  expired  1  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Col.  Rogers,  containing  a  recommenda- 


66  CHAPTER  VII 

tion  from  himself,  endorsed  by  General  Wadsworth — our 
Brigade  Commander — recommending  me  to  Governor  Morgan 
for  appointment  to  a  field  position,  and  on  my  way  back  to  the 
regiment,  I  stopped  in  Albany  and  presented  my  application. 
Governor  Morgan  said,  "I  know  Col.  Rogers  and  General 
Wadsworth  very  well,  and  remember  seeing  you  fire  one  of 
those  big  guns  from  one  of  the  bastions  at  Fort  Runyon,"  ana 
turning  to  his  adjutant  said,  'Is  there  any  field  position  that 
we  can  give  Capt.  Strong?"  He  answered,  "You  know,  Gov- 
ernor, that  the  regiment  forming  at  -  (I  now  forget 
where)  "wrote  you  that  they  had  gotten  into  a  quarrel  on  the 
election  of  a  Colonel,  and  had  agreed  that  they  would  accept 
any  stranger  you  might  send  them  for  that  position."  "Well, 
give  Capt.  Strong  the  position."  "Oh!  Governor,"  I  said,  "I 
have  never  been  in  command  of  a  regiment,  and  would  fear 
to  assume  so  much  responsibility."  After  talking  with  me  a 
short  time,  saying  among  other  things,  "No  one  in  that  regiment 
has  seen  as  much  service  as  you  have  and  I  think  you  had 
better  accept  it.  I  am  sure  Col.  Rogers  and  General  Wads- 
worth  would  not  have  sent  me  that  letter  had  they  not  believed 
you  competent."  And,  on  my  still  declining,  said,  ''Well,  then, 
come  in  tomorrow  and  I  will  see  if  there  is  anything  else." 

The  firing  the  big  gun  he  referred  to  happened  in  this  way. 
When  at  Fort  Runyon,  Col.  Rogers  at  one  time  assigned  the 
care  of  one  of  the  bastions  containing  one  of  the  large  guns 
to  my  company,  and  we  were  in  the  habit  of  firing  it  into  a 
sandbank  some  distance  off  for  the  practice  of  loading  and  fir- 
ing, and  when  the  Governor  visited  the  Fort  he  asked  to  see 


CHAPTER  VII  67 

some  of  the  big  guns.  Col.  Rogers  sent  orders  to  me  to  get 
our  bastion  ready  to  show  the  Governor.  In  a  short  time  Col. 
Rogers  and  the  Governor  came,  and  I  was  introduced.  The 
Governor  said  he  wanted  to  see  us  load  and  fire  the  gun.  This 
we  then  proceeded  to  do,  I  giving  the  orders  as  1  had  been  ac- 
customed to  do.  When  it  came  to  the  order  for  the  gunner  to 
mount  and  sight  the  gun,  the  Governor  said,  "Capt,  Strong, 
1  should  like  to  see  you  do  that.  See  if  you  can  hit  that  old 
telegraph  pole  standing  there  by  the  sandbank."  I  was  taken 
very  much  by  surprise  as  1  had  never  sighted  the  piece.  1 
knew  it  wouldn't  do  to  show  any  hesitancy,  so  1  sprang  up  to 
the  gunner's  place,  sighted  the  gun  on  the  pole,  jumped  down, 
ordered  it  fired,  and  to  my  great  astonishment  the  bail  struck 
the  pole.  The  Governor  complimented  the  men  and  me  and 
left  with  Col.  Rogers.  It  seems  he  remembered  the  incident. 

The  next  morning  I  went  back  to  the  Governor's  office 
and  received  my  commission  as  Lieutenant  Colonel  38th  Regt. 
X.  Y.  Vol.  infantry,  with  orders  to  return  to  Buffalo  and  equip 
myself  for  the  position.  This  I  did,  and  joined  the  38th  near 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  soon  as  possible. 

It  was  Sunday  when  I  reached  there,  and  Col.J.H.  Ho- 
bart  Ward,  the  colonel  of  the  regiment,  informed  me  that  I  was 
in  command,  as  he  was  on  hospital  inspection  duty  and  that  the 
senior  captain  was  now  the  ranking  officer. 

How  1  wished  I  had  taken  Governor  Morgan's  advice  and 
accepted  the  colonelcy  of  the  regiment  he  advised  me  to  take, 
for  instead  of  being  in  command  of  a  regiment  that  had  never 
seen  any  service,  1  found  myself  in  command  of  one  that  had 


68  CHAPTER  VII 

passed  through  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  was  now 
without  a  Lieutenant  Colonel  or  Major. 

They  had  heard  that  a  captain  of  the  21  Regt.  had  been 
commissioned  Lieut.  Col.  of  their  Regt.  and  the  officers — ex- 
cept the  Colonel  and  Surgeon — were  very  much  provoked  about 
it,  and  gave  me  the  cold  shoulder  most  decidedly. 

It  was  in  mid  winter  and  this  regiment,  known  as  "The 
2nd  Scott  Life  Guards,"  had  built  the  best  camp  I  ever  saw 
in  the  army  in  the  field.  There  was  a  fine  separate  log  hous>> 
for  each  field  officer,  one  for  the  surgeon,  another  for  the 
officers'  mess  room,  and  each  company  had  its  own  officers  and 
company  quarters.  There  was  also  a  good  sized  log  house  foi 
a  theatre  in  which  the  regiment  would  often  have  plays  and 
concerts. 

In  the  mess  room  I  was  given  a  table  at  which  four  could 
sit,  but  for  quite  awhile  not  an  officer  came  near  it,  or  spoke  to 
me,  except  as  in  duty  bound. 

Colonel  Ward  only  returned  occasionally,  and  when  he  did 
he  had  his  meals  brought  to  his  quarters,  and  did  not  assume 
command  until  the  regiment  was  ordered  south,  and  went  with 
many  others  on  transports  down  the  Chesapeak. 

My  situation  was  decidedly  uncomfortable,  but  there  was 
no  way  out  of  it  except  to  resign,  which,  of  course,  was  out  of 
the  question.  The  advice  given  the  graduating  class  at  Wil- 
liston  by  Luther  Wright,  the  principal,  in  1845,  which  wa.-, 
"Never  shrink  from  responsibility  when  it  is  cast  upon  you," 
came  to  mv  mind  and  benefited  me. 


CHAPTER  VII  69 

The  weather  was  very  bad,  so  I  could  have  no  drills,  or 
even  dress  parades,  nothing  but  the  ordinary  camp  duties. 

One  day,  when  the  snow  was  about  two  inches  deep,  with 
a  hard  crust  upon  it,  an  order  came  for  me  to  take  the  regi- 
ment out  on  picket  duty,  and  the  first  compliment  I  received 
was  when  I  rode  out  to  form  the  regiment,  I  heard  the  surgeon 
say,  "Well,  if  our  new  colonel  don't  know  anything  else  he 
knows  how  to  ride."  I  had  a  very  fine  looking,  high  spirited 
horse,  but  she  was  dreadfully  afraid  of  soldiers  and  when  I 
gave  the  order  to  march,  the  noise  of  the  cracking  crust  under 
the  soldiers'  feet  was  too  much  for  her  nerves,  and  she  gave  a 
great  leap  to  one  side,  and  the  snow  balls,  which  had  gathered 
under  her  feet  caused  her  to  fall  flat,  but  fortunately  did  not 
catch  my  leg  under  her.  As  the  bridle  reins  slipped  from  my 
hand  she  was  up  like  a  flash,  and  off  for  the  stable  on  a  keen 
run,  and  the  ranking  captain,  now  acting  major,  and  on  horse 
back  and  my  orderly,  on  my  other  horse  after  her.  1  went 
on  with  the  regiment  on  foot  until  my  horse  returned  when 
I  immediately  mounted,  and  to  my  great  surprise  was  cheered 
to  the  echo  by  the  regiment.  When  we  returned  from  picket 
duty  the  weather  had  moderated,  and  1  began  holding  dress 
parades  and  drills. 

Thanks  to  Col.  Rogers,  who  would  sometimes  take  me  to 
his  quarters,  when  1  was  with  the  2ist,  and  with  his  wooden 
blocks  teach  me  how  to  drill  a  regiment,  and  by  hard  study 
after  my  promotion,  I  could  do  it  tolerably  well. 

Col.  Rogers  had  gotten  up  a  new  way  of  forming  a  "hol- 
low square,"  and  had  kindly  taught  me,  so  I  drilled  the  regi- 


70  CHAPTER  VII 

ment  in  that  way.  One  day  an  aide  came  from  the  general 
commanding  the  brigade,  saying  that  he  had  heard  that  I  had 
a  new  way  of  forming  a  "hollow  square,"  and  that  he  would  be 
at  our  drill  ground  the  next  afternoon  at  three  o'clock  to  wit- 
ness the  drill.  It  proved  to  be  a  fine  day  and  I  had  the  regi- 
ment on  the  drill  ground  on  time,  and  when  the  general  with 
his  staff  arrived  he  took  a  position  on  a  rise  of  ground  which 
gave  him  a  good  view,  and  we  went  through  the  drill.  When 
the  regiment  was  formed  back  into  line,  I  rode  up  to  the  gen- 
eral, who  asked  some  questions  and  wished  me  to  form  it 
again,  which  we  did,  and  riding  up  to  him  again,  he  compli- 
mented the  regiment  very  highly.  I  then  told  him  that  Col. 
Rogers  of  the  2ist  was  the  author  of  the  movement;  he  said 
it  was  far  ahead  of  the  movement  laid  down  in  the  tactics,  and 
bidding  us  good  afternoon  left. 

On  returning  to  the  regiment  I  repeated  the  compliments 
the  general  had  given  it,  and  took  occasion  to  say  that  the  only 
way  we  could  deserve  and  win  such  compliments  was  to 
throw  petty  jealousies  aside  and  act  in  unison,  that  I  should 
try  to  do  my  duty  and  hoped  every  officer  and  man  in  the 
regiment  would  do  his. 

It  was  the  first  time  I  had  had  a  good  opportunity  to  make 
a  little  speech  to  the  regiment,  and  I  improved  it,  and  from 
that  time  on  I  grew  more  and  more  in  favor  and  I  think  I 
can  truly  say  that  no  field  officer  was  ever  better  loved  by  the 
officers  and  men  of  his  regiment  than  I  grew  to  be. 

The  regiment  went  south  with  the  rest  of  the  army  on 
transports,  and  did  its  full  share  of  duty,  on  it  march  to,  and 


CHAPTER  VII  ~i 

in  the  investment  and  capture  of  Yorktown,  Va.,  but  I  can 
in  this  sketch  mention  only  those  things  in  which  I  was  per- 
sonally concerned. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

One  day  I  was  ordered  to  take  four  companies  and  build 
a  redoubt  near  the  foot  of  a  rise  of  ground,  over  and  beyond 
which,  but  entirely  hidden  from  view,  were  some  works  of  the 
enemy.  The  general,  probably,  intended  to  place  mortars  in  it. 
The  place  and  size  of  the  redoubt  had  been  staked  out  and  my 
orders  were  to  keep  half  the  men  under  arms  ready  for  any 
emergency,  while  the  other  half  were  using  the  shovels.  We 
had  not  been  at  work  very  long,  when,  as  I  was  riding  between 
the  hill  and  redoubt,  a  bullet  hit  the  shovel  of  one  of  the  men ; 
where  it  came  from  we  could  not  imagine ;  we  heard  no  report, 
nor  saw  any  smoke.  I  dismounted  and  the  captain  in  charge 
of  the  working  companies,  and  myself,  tried  to  find  from 
whence  it  came.  I  concluded  that  it  must  be  a  sharp-shooter  in 
some  high  tree.  Selecting  three  men  whom  I  knew  to  be  good 
marksmen,  we  crawled  on  our  hands  and  knees  up  this  rise 
of  ground  until  we  reached  a  place  where  we  could  look  over, 
then  lying  flat  on  the  ground  I  scanned  the  trees  with  my  field 
glass  until  I  saw  a  dark  spot  near  the  top  of  one  of  the  tallest, 
and  handing  the  glass  to  the  men,  they  fixed  their  eyes  upon 
that  dark  spot,  and  then  passed  the  glass  back  to  me.  When 
all  was  ready  I  gave  the  order  to  fire,  and  down  tumbled  the 
,dark  spot.  When  we  returned  to  the  redoubt,  the  captain  said 
he  had  found  where  the  bullet  had  cut  through  some  dirt  before 
it  struck  the  shovel,  which  gave  him  the  direction  from  which 
it  came,  and  believed  it  had  been  fired  at  me,  and  must  have 


CHAPTER  VIII  73 

passed  very  close  to  me  when  I  was  on  my  horse.  We  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  sharp-shooter  must  have  had  a  teles- 
cope rifle,  which  enabled  him  to  see  so  far,  but  whether  he- 
fired  at  me,  or  not,  will  never  be  known.  We  do  know,  how- 
ever, that  no  more  leaden  messengers  came  from  that  direction 
while  we  were  working  on  that  redoubt. 

While  the  army  was  approaching  and  investing  Yorktown, 
1  was  sent  up  in  a  captive  balloon  several  times.  I  always 
carried  my  field-glass  and  pocket  compass.  On  one  occasion 
the  enemy  drew  a  field-piece  out  for  some  woods  and  fired 
twice.  I  could  distinctly  see  that  they  were  aiming  at  the 
balloon.  The  first  time,  I  saw  the  flash  of  the  cannon,  but 
heard  no  report,  although  I  thought  I  heard  the  whistle  of  the 
ball ;  but  the  second  time,  I  saw  the  flash  of  the  cannon,  but 
heard  no  sound  of  any  kind. 

Seeing  a  cannon  trained  upon  one's  balloon  when  a  thou- 
sand feet  in  the  air,  however,  made  an  impression  that  is  still 
very  vivid,  although  forty-eight  years  have  passed  since  then, 
and  I  am  now  (1910)  over  eighty-four  years  of  age. 

At  another  time  I  saw  a  large  cloud  of  dust  rising  beyond 
some  woods  a  long  distance  away,  and  immediately  sent  down  a 
message  telling  of  the  fact,  giving  my  opinion  that  is  was 
caused  by  a  body  of  troops  moving  along  a  dusty  road,  and 
giving  the  direction  I  thought  they  were  going,  although  I 
could  not  see  any.  This  proved  to  be  correct  and  gave  our 
general  time  to  head  off  a  movement  which  the  enemy  had 
hoped  they  were  making  unbeknown  to  him. 

I   wrote  all  the  messages  on  pieces  of  paper,  tied  them 


74  CHAPTHR  VIII 

around  a  heavy  bullet,  called  to  those  below  to  watch  where 
they  fell,  and  dropped  them.  There  was  always  an  aide  on 
horseback  to  carry  them  to  headquarters. 

On  the  morning  of  May  4,  1862,  while  lying  in  front  of 
the  enemy's  works  at  Yorktown,  we  received  orders  to  advance 
on  "double  quick,"  as  the  enemy  had  evacuated.  We  were 
second  over  their  works,  and  when  the  colonel  of  the  regiment 
in  advance  of  us  ordered  some  of  his  men  into  the  fort  and 
brought  them  to  "order  arms,"  the  butt  of  one  of  the  guns 
struck  the  cap  of  a  buried  shell  and  exploded  it,  tearing  two 
men  to  pieces,  and  injuring  several  others. 

I  was  told  that  when  Gen.  McClellan  heard  of  this  he 
ordered  an  officer  to  take  a  squad  of  Confederate  prisoners 
and  rake  over  the  entire  ground,  making  them  dig  up  every 
shell  that  could  be  found,  and  that  they  found  quite  a  numoc*, 
not  only  in  the  fort,  but  in  the  main  traveled  roads. 

I  also  heard  he  said  that  he  never  expected  anything  like 
that  from  a  civilized  foe. 

We  were  kept  on  the  march  during  the  cest  of  the  day 
and  camped  that  night  in  mud  about  two  inches  deep.  The 
next  day  we  had  not  gone  far  before  we  began  to  hear  the 
roar  of  cannon  and  musketry,  which  told  us  that  a  battle  was 
on,  and  an  order  passed  down  the  line  to  "double  quick,"  which 
meant,  hurry  up  as  fast  as  possible,  for  the  mud  was  so  deep 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  marching  order.  It  was  not  long 
before  we  began  to  meet  General  Hooker's  men  on  the  re- 
treat. This  was  the  battle  of  Williambnrg,  and  they  had  had 
a  hard  day  of  it,  and  been  driven  from  the  field. 


CHAPTER  VIII  75 

I  was  order  to  take  the  right  wing  of  the  regiment  and 
form  in  open  order  in  a  small  ravine  on  the  right,  and  then  ad- 
vance and  drive  the  enemy's  skirmishers  from  the  wroods,  and 
was  told  that  a  horse  would  be  of  no  use  to  me.  I  therefore 
dismounted,  sent  my  horse  to  my  orderly  and  marched  up  this 
little  ravine,  formed  in  open  order,  and  proceeded  up  on  to 
the  level  ground.  The  enemy  was  ready  for  us  and  several 
of  our  men  dropped  the  moment  we  came  in  sight,  but  on  we 
went,  driving  the  enemy  before  us  until  we  reached  a  road 
some  distance  in  front  of  an  abatis  of  fallen  trees  in  front  of  a 
redoubt  on  their  right  of  Fort  Magruder  ;  here  we  formed  in 
company  order.  While  doing  this,  Maj.  Gen.  Kearney,  Com- 
mander of  our  Division,  came  riding  up  and  said,  "Don't 
stop,  Colonel,  give  it  to  them."  We  rushed  ahead  until  we 
reached  the  abatis,  which  was  a  perfect  slaughter-house.  The 
enemy  had  a  rifle  pit  on  their  side  of  it,  and  as  all  the  limbs 
had  been  cut  from  the  upper  side  of  the  trees,  all  they  had 
to  do  was  to  lie  low  in  their  pit  and  pick  us  off  whenever  we 
attempted  to  scale  that  abatis.  It  was  fighting  at  a  terrible  dis- 
advantage on  our  side,  and  we  were  driven  back  twice.  At 
what  time  the  other  part  of  the  regiment  joined  us  I  do  not 
know,  for  the  command  of  that  charge  was  not  taken  from 
me.  On  rallying  and  making  the  third  charge,  we  found  our- 
selves out  of  ammunition,  and  charged  the  rest  of  the  way  with 
fixed  bayonets,  driving  the  enemy  out  of  their  rifle  pit  and 
as  they  retreated  around  the  parapet  of  their  redoubt  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  one  of  them  turned,  and,  seeing  I  was  an  of- 
ficer, fired  at  me  without  bringing  his  gun  to  his  shoulder,  and 


;6  CHAPTER  VIII 

jumped  behind  the  parapet.  He  was  but  a  short  distance  from 
me,  and  it  was  the  only  gun  fired  on  either  side  after  we  crossed 
their  rifle  pit. 

I  fell,  and  on  trying  to  move  found  I  could  not,  and  the 
first  I  heard  was,  "My  God!  the  Colonel's  down;''  and  all  be- 
gan to  gather  around  me.  I  said,  "Take  the  men  on,  captain, 
take  the  men  on,  this  is  no  place  to  stop,  I  am  not  much  hurt, 
leave  two  men  with  me,  that's  all." 

The  captain  stepped  out  and  ordered  the  men  on,  saying, 
"The  Colonel  says  he  isn't  much  hurt,  and  for  us  to  go  on,  that 
this  is  no  place  to  stop."  Two  men  stopped  with  me,  and 
wanted  to  carry  me  off  the  field,  which  I  would  not  permit, 
and  after  laying  me  down  by  the  side  of  one  of  the  fallen  trees 
and  resting  my  head  upon  the  stub  of  a  branch,  I  told  them  to 
leave  me  and  go  on,  and  if  they  came  out  of  the  fight  all  right, 
they  could  come  and  get  me. 

After  they  left  I  began  to  take  in  the  situation,  for,  strange 
to  say,  I  was  not  suffering  a  particle  of  pain.  I  was  lying  on 
my  back,  my  head  held  up  by  the  limb  of  the  tree,  my  body  al- 
most entirely  under  the  mud.  Soon  it  began  to  rain,  for  which 
I  was  very  thankful,  as  it  tended  to  quench  my  thirst.  Sec- 
onds lengthened  into  minutes,  and  minutes  into  hours  until 
long  into  the  night  when  I  heard  some  one  calling,  "Colonel 
Strong !  Colonel  Strong !"  I  answered,  "Here  I  am,  here  I 
am,"  as  I  thought,  in  my  usual  loud  voice ;  still  the  calling  con- 
tinued, I  answering  with  all  my  power.  Finally  I  heard  the 
call  right  on  the  other  side  of  the  tree  by  which  I  lay,  and  I, 
putting  all  the  force  I  could  into  my  voice,  answered,  "Here 


CHAPTER  VIII  77 

I  am."     The  soldier  threw  the  light  of  his  lantern  over  the 
log,   and  seeing  me,   called  out,   "Here  he   is,   boys,   here  he 


'& 

is! 


I  was  soon  surounded  by  my  men,  carefully  placed  in  a 
blanket,  carried  around  the  abatis  to  the  road,  and  put  into  an 
ambulance.  This  had  not  gone  far  before  it  hit  something 
under  the  mud  and  broke  down,  then  the  men  took  me  on  one 
of  the  ambulance  stretchers  and  trudged  on  through  the  mud 
and  rain.  I  begged  them  to  lay  me  down  under  some  tree  and 
rest  themselves,  as  1  knew  they  had  been  hard  at  work,  march- 
ing and  fighting  all  day  and  must  be  very  tired,  but  the  only 
answer  I  received  was,  "We'll  carry  you,  Colonel,  till  we  get 
you  into  a  house  if  it  takes  all  night,"  and  on,  on  they  trudged, 
every  house  they  came  to  being  full  of  wounded.  After  they 
had  carried  me  two  or  three  miles  we  met  Surgeon  Berry  of 
the  38th  on  horseback,  looking  for  me,  who  guided  them  to  a 
house,  which  I  was  told  afterwards  was  about  four  miles  from 
where  I  fell.  It  was  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  when  we  reached  there  and  I  was  placed  upon  the 
operating  table. 

It  was  then  found  that  the  ball  was  undoubtedly  a  min- 
nic,  and  had  passed  entirely  through  my  body  from  front  to 
rear,  tearing  out  the  right  hip  joint.  Unfortunately  for  me 
the  surgeon  was  entirely  out  of  anesthetics  and  the  pain  was  so 
excruciating  that  at  one  time  I  asked  for  a  bullet,  which  I 
put  in  my  mouth,  and  fastening  my  teeth  upon  it,  said,  "Now, 
Doctor,  go  ahead,"  and  after  he  had  drawn  yard  after  yard 
of  bandage  through  my  body,  an  assistant  pouring  water  into 


78  CHAPTER  VIII 

the  wound,  and  cleaned  out  the  mud,  pieces  of  clothing,  etc., 
and  pulled  out  the  broken  pieces  of  bone,  which  included  about 
one  and  a  half  inches  of  the  rim  of  the  accetablum,  I  was  laic! 
down  on  the  floor. 

I  mention  this  bullet  not  only  because  it  saved  me  from 
breaking  my  teeth  all  to  pieces,  but  because  when  the  regi- 
ment was  mustered  out  in  New  York  City  more  than  a  year 
afterwards  one  of  the  men  showed  it  to  me  and  said  it  had 
been  held  by  the  men  of  the  regiment  as  a  prize. 

Surgeon  Berry  was  a  very  kind  hearted  man,  and  did 
everything  in  his  power  to  relieve  my  sufferings — as  he  did 
for  all —  and  had  me  carried  to  the  bank  of  the  James  river  as 
soon  as  he  ascertained  that  a  steamer  had  been  sent  to  carry 
the  wounded  to  Fortress  Monroe.  I  do  not  remember  how 
many  days  this  was  after  the  battle,  but  it  must  have  been 
two  or  three,  I  think.  We  were  taken  on  board  early  in  the 
forenoon,  I  being  placed  on  my  own  blankets  on  the  slats  of 
what  had  been  a  berth  in  a  stateroom.  Surgeon  Berry  sent 
two  men  with  me,  that  I  might  be  properly  handled,  so  as  not 
to  tear  off  the  dressings  he  had  placed  over  and  around  the 
wounded  hip. 

The  deck  was  completely  covered  with  the  wounded  and 
yet  the  steamer  did  not  start.  Several  hours  passed;  one  of 
my  men  reported  to  me  that  some  of  the  wounded  had  died  since 
being  brought  on  board,  I  sent  for  the  captain  of  the  steam- 
er and  said  to  him,  "If  you  are  loaded,  why  do  you  not  go?" 
He  said,  "I  am  waiting  for  orders.  I  am  afraid  I  will  lose 
mv  charter  if  I  sail  without  orders."  I  then  asked  him,  "Who 


CHAPTER  VIII  79 

is  the  ranking  officer  on  board?"  "You  are,''  he  said.  "Bring 
me  some  paper  then  and  I  will  give  you  orders."  I  then  had 
him  write  an  order  "To  proceed  immediately  to  Fortress  Mon- 
roe, and  report  to  the  U.  S.  Quartermaster  General,  not  know- 
ing who  that  officer  might  be.  I  signed  it,  and  we  were  soon 
off.  On  arriving  at  Fortress  Monroe,  the  surgeon  in  charge 
of  the  wounded  there  had  me  taken  to  the  Hygeia  Hospital. 

The  quartermaster  general  there  happened  to  be  Major 
General  Rufus  Ingalls — the  same  I  had  known  as  Quartermas- 
ter at  Fort  Vancouver  on  the  Columbia  river — who,  on  seeing 
my  name  on  that  order,  came  right  over  to  see  me,  and  learn- 
ing the  facts  became  very  angry  at  that  captain,  and  said,  "Lose 
his  charter,  he  will  lose  his  charter ;  a  man  who  doesn't  know 
better  how  to  interpret  his  orders  than  that,  and  will  let  wound- 
ed soldiers  die  on  his  decks  after  he  is  fully  loaded  for  fear 
he  will  lose  his  charter,  rs  too  big  a  fool  to  have  one." 

The  general  came  to  see  me  again  the  next  clay,  and  said 
that  he  would  take  charge  of  my  property  and  send  whatever 
I  wished  of  it  to  Buffalo.  This  he  did,  and  I  had  no  care  or 
trouble  about  it.  1  gave  him  a  list,  and  he  had  it  all  looked 
up  and  taken  care  of  until  it  arrived  at  my  home  in  Buffalo, 
N.  Y. 


JOHN    C.    STROXG,   ESQ. 

Buffalo.     N.    Y. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  my  being  wounded  reached  Buffalo, 
my  brother  John  C.  Strong  started  to  come  for  me,  but  it 
took  him  several  days  to  reach  Fortress  Monroe,  the  means  of 
travel  being  crowded,  and  the  government  requiring  every  per- 
son going  to  the  front  to  have  a  pass.  1  can  never  forget  how 
happy  1  felt  when  I  saw  him  enter  that  ward  and  come  to  my 
cot.  At  first  he  could  not  speak,  but  took  my  hand,  and  I  saw 
the  tears  roll  down  his  cheeks  as  he  turned  his  head  to  speak- 
to  the  surgeon ;  soon,  however,  he  began  talking  to  me,  saying 
that  he  had  come  to  take  me  home  when  1  was  able  to  go. 
He  told  me  afterwards  that  when  he  told  the  surgeons  he 
wanted  to  take  me  home,  they  said,  "It  will  make  no  differ- 
ence whether  you  take  him  or  not,  for  he  is  a  dead  man,  any- 
way." My  brother  wasn't  a  man  to  give  up  so  easily,  and  ob- 
tained the  proper  papers  from  General  Wool  for  taking  me, 
and,  when  the  steamer  was  to  start  for  Baltimore,  had  me 
properly  lashed  to  an  army  stretcher,  and  had  four  negroes 
carry  me  to  the  steamer.  They  laid  me  on  a  berth  in  one  of 
the  staterooms,  still  strapped  to  the  stretcher,  and  every  revolu- 
tion of  the  wheels  jerked  the  boat  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
cause  me  much  pain.  I  remember  saying,  "O  John,  if  the  boat 
hurts  me  like  this,  the  cars  will  kill  me,  "  for  1  supposed  the 
boat  would  be  much  easier  than  the  cars.  He  would  give  me 
all  the  morphine  the  surgeons  had  directed  him  to  give,  but  he 


84  CHAPTER  IX 

saw  it  did  not  make  me  insensible  to  the  pain,  and  began  to 
fear  he  would  not  get  me  home  alive.  We  reached  Baltimore 
in  due  time,  however,  and  as  there  were  no  sleeping  cars  in 
those  days  he  had  them  take  the  back  off  of  one  seat  and  lay 
my  stretcher  across  three  seats,  and  then  watched  me  very 
closely  to  see  what  effect  the  movement  of  the  cars  would 
have  upon  me.  After  I  had  been  lying  there-  some  time,  1 
remember  saying  to  him  in  a  very  complaining  tone,  "John, 
why  don't  these  cars  start?"  His  face  lightened  up  with  a 
smile  as  he  said,  "Why,  Jim,  they  have  been  running  almost 
half  an  hour."  I  was  greatly  astonished,  for  I  had  not  felt 
any  pain  from  the  motion  and  supposed  the  noise  I  had  heard 
was  the  usual  noise  made  in  the  depot  so  had  no  idea  that  the 
train  had  started.  I  was  greatly  under  the  influence  of  mor- 
phine or  I  would  have  known  better.  The  fact  was  the  motion 
of  the  car  was  as  nothing  compared  to  the  jerky  motion  of 
the  boat. 

When  we  reached  Philadelphia,  I  was  so  exhausted  thai 
my  brother  thought  it  best  to  take  me  to  a  hospital  to  rest. 
Here  I  came  near  meeting  with  a  mishap.  My  stretcher  was 
too  wide  to  pass  through  the  door  of  the  cars  and  had  to  be 
tipped  up  edgeways,  but  1  was  lashed  so  tightly  that  it  could 
be  done  easily  enough  if  proper  care  was  taken,  but  the  men 
who  did  it  here  were  careless  in  some  way  and  came  very 
near  dropping  me. 

At  this  hospital  I  was  taken  off  the  stretcher  and  remained 
two  or  three  days ;  then  1  was  again  lashed  to  the  stretcher, 
put  on  the  cars  and  taken  to  the  Astor  House,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  IX  85 

Mr.  Stetson, — whose  first  name  I  think  was  Charles, — kept 
this  house  at  that  time.  He  had  a  large  room  on  the  office  floor 
made  into  a  bed-room  for  my  use.  1  was  taken  off  the  stretch- 
er, and  we  remained  here  two  or  three  days  that  I  might  rest, 
and  never  could  a  father  or  mother  have  done  more  for  the 
comfort  of  a  son  than  Air.  and  Mrs.  Stetson  did  for  me,  filling 
my  room  with  Mowers  and  getting  every  little  delicacy  for  me 
to  eat  that  the  physician,  who  had  been  called  in,  would  permit, 
and  when  1  was  rested  enough  to  go  on,  and  my  brother  asked 
for  the  bill,  Mr.  Stetson  would  not  take  a  penny,  but  assisted 
my  brother  in  every  way  to  get  me  to  the  cars  for  Buffalo. 

i  was  firmly  lashed  to  the  stretcher  again  and  placed  in 
the  same  way  in  a  car  and  taken  to  Buffalo.  Here,  still 
strapped  to  my  stretcher,  I  was  taken  to  1113-  home  on  a  spring 
wagon  my  friend  isaac  D.  White  had  sent  to  the  depot  for 
me,  and  in  which  he  had  placed  two  or  three  spring  mattresses 
for  my  comfort.  When  1  arrived  home  and  was  being  carried 
through  the  gate,  i  saw  my  wife  standing  there,  and,  as  1 
saw  the  tears  streaming  down  her  cheeks,  i  said,  ''Don't  cry, 
Km,  i  am  better  than  ten  dead  men." 

Here  brother  John's  special  care  of  me  ceased,  but  there 
can  be  no  queston  that  had  it  not  been  for  his  energy  and  per- 
severance i  should  never  have  seen  home  and  friends  again. 

My  young  and  loving  wife  had  provided  everything  for 
my  comfort,  and  with  the  aid  of  one  of  the  best  and  most  con- 
scientious nurses,  watched  over  me  night  and  day  for  many 
months.  She  was  my  guardian  angel,  my  loved  one,  and  to 
her  loving  care  do  i  also  owe  my  life.  God  bless  her. 


£6  CHAPTER  IX 

Brother  John  and  my  wife  each  wrote  a  letter  to  Colonel 
Ward,  who  replied  as  follows : 

"Camp  near  Richmond,  June  12,  1862. 

John  C.  Strong,  Sir :  I  received  you  welcome  letter  of— 
and  I  assure  you  it  afforded  my  officers  and  myself  much  pleas- 
ure to  learn  ~that  the  Colonel  has  arrived  home  safely.  I  was 
somewhat  fearful  that  the  immense  amount  of  fatigue  incident 
to  a  man  in  his  condition  would  not  produce  the  best  results. 
He  will  now,  I  am  satisfied,  rapidly  recover,  for  to  be  with 
family  and  friends  adds  one-half  to  convalescence ;  with  a  de- 
voted wife  at  the  bedside  of  an  invalid,  and  that  invalid  a  de- 
voted husband,  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  of  the  results.  I 
am  in  command  of  the  brigade,  and  if  the  generals  over  me 
have  any  influence  at  the  War  Department  I  shall  be  promoted 
to  the  permanent  command,  and  if  so,  there  will  be  a  vacancy 
in  the  colonelcy,  and  rest  assured,  my  dear  sir,  that  no  one 
will  dare  to  take  command  of  the  38th  but  James.  It  would  be 
a  dangerous  experiment,  at  least,  so  tell  him  to  get  well  av 
soon  as  he  can,  and  take  command  of  those  who  so  well  know 
how  to  appreciate  him.  I  will,  as  soon  as  I  have  an  oppor- 
tunity (which  I  have  not  now),  send  him  copies  of  all  the  re- 
ports. I  received  Mrs.  Strong's  letter,  which  I  read  to  my 
officers,  and  need  not  say  the  tone  and  language  used  was  wor- 
thy the  wife  of  your  noble  brother.  May  God  bless  and  preserve 
him.  I  presume  you  have  heard  of  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks. 
I  can  only  say  that  the  brigade  drove,  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  over  five  times  their  number.  I  am,  sir,  your  obedi- 
ent servant,  J.  H.  HOBART  WARD." 


CHAPTER  IX  87 

Gen.  Birney,  commander  of  our  brigade,  in  his  official 
report  of  the  battle  of  Williamsburg,  says : 

"Lieutenant  Colonel  Strong,  Thirty-eighth,     New     York 
Regiment,   deserves   special  mention   for   his   gallant   conduct. 
His  wound,  although  disabling  him,  I  am  happy  to  report,  is 
not  mortal,  and  he  will  soon  be  returned  to  his  regiment. 
I  am  truly  yours, 

D.  B.  BIRNEY, 
Brigadier  General. 

Lieutenant  W.  G.  Sturges,  A.  A.  General  Kearney's  Divi- 
sion." 

I  had  not  been  home  long  before  a  committee  of  citizens 
— not  knowing  how  seriously  I  was  wounded — came,  saying 
they  had  been  sent  to  ask  me  if  I  would  accept  the  colonelcy 
of  a  regiment  of  infantry  then  being  raised  in  Buffalo.  I 
thanked  them  for  the  compliment,  but  declined,  feeling  sure 
that  should  1  become  able  to  take  command  of  a  regiment 
I  should  return  to  the  38th. 

For  months  my  sufferings  were  intense,  at  times  almost 
unbearable,  but  let  even  the  memory  of  them  pass  into  oblivion. 

Gov.  Morgan  sent  me  my  commission  as  colonel  of  the 
gallant  old  38th  in  November.  I  had  my  brother  write  him 
that  I  was  still  unable  to  go  to  the  front,  and  could  not  say 
as  I  ever  would  be.  His  reply  was,  in  substance,  we  will  wait 
and  see,  and  did  not  recall  the  commission.  My  injured  leg- 
was  so  flexed  that  I  knew  1  could  never  ride  a  horse  again 
unless  it  could  be  straightened.  Hearing  of  a  specialist  in 
Boston,  he  was  written  to  and  given  a  description  of  my  case, 


88  CHAPTER  IX 

and  replied  that  he  could  undoubtedly  straighten  me  out  all 
right  by  a  process  of  his  own.  Although  fearing  1  might  be 
deceived,  I  was  so  anxious  to  get  well  that  I  concluded  to 
try  him,  even  against  Dr.  Miner's  advice,  and  my  wife  accom- 
panied me  there.  1  soon  found  that  his  process  would  not  do 
me  any  good,  left  him,  and  entered  the  Officers'  Hospital,  in 
Cammack's  woods,  Philadelphia.  Here  1  remained  under 
treatment  nearly  a  month,  and  then  returned  to  Buffalo.  When 
I  reached  home,  Governor  Morgan  was  informed  of  my  return 
and  condition  and  in  due  time  I  was  mustered  into  service  as 
colonel  of  the  38th  by  Captain  Sheldon  Sturgeon,  mustering 
officer  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  by  order  of 
Governor  Morgan. 

My  leg  was  not  yet  straight  and  I  insisted  that  it  should  be 
if  within  the  possibilities,  and  begged  Dr.  Miner,  who  had  been 
my  physical!  and  surgeon  while  in  Buffalo,  to  straighten  it. 
He  said  he  would  see  about  it  when  I  had  strength  enough. 
This  encouraged  me,  for  I  had  great  confidence  in  Dr.  Julius 
F.  Miner,  and  1  at  once  began  exerting  all  my  will  power 
upon  the  thought  of  getting  strength  enough  to  endure  the 
operation,  and  almost  daily  would  ask  the  doctor  if  he  didn't 
think  I  could  stand  it  now. 

One  day  he  brought  with  him  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  another 
of  Buffalo's  celebrated  surgeons,  for  consultation.  They  con- 
cluded to  operate,  and  fixed  the  time  for  the  afternoon  of  the 
next  day,  when  they  came,  and  placing  me  under  the  influence 
of  an  anesthetic,  performed  the  operation. 

The   next  morning   1    remember  asking  Dr.    Miner   if   1 


CHAPTER  IX  89 

had  a  straight  leg,  and  his  saying,  "Oh,  pretty  straight."  I 
said,  "What  do  you  put  the  pretty  in  for?"  That  word  "pret- 
ty" indicated  to  me  that  my  chances  for  a  straight  leg  had 
vanished,  for  I  felt  sure  that  Dr.  Miner  would  never  have  used 
that  qualification  had  the  operation  been  a  success.  He  told 
me  afterwards  that  my  excessive  will  power  had  deceived  them 
as  to  my  strength. 

After  this  I  began  to  suffer  terribly  again  from  abscesses 
in  the  hip,  and,  feeling  confident  that  I  would  never  be  able 
to  ride  a  horse  again  in  command  of  a  regiment,  tendered  my 
resignation,  but  Secretary  Stanton  refused  to  accept  it,  and 
told  a  friend  of  mine  that  when  I  was  able  to  do  duty  of  any 
kind  he  had  duty  for  me. 

Thus  things  went  on  until  the  forepart  of  June,  when  I 
received  a  letter  from  the  officers  of  the  38th,  asking  me  to 
meet  them  in  New  York,  if  possible,  where  the  regiment  was  to 
be  mustered  out,  and  lead  them  as  their  colonel,  even  if  1  had 
to  ride  in  a  carriage.  This  1  did,  and  was  mustered  out  with 
the  regiment,  as  its  colonel,  June  22,  1863,  and  no  colonel  ever 
received  a  warmer  welcome  than  I  did  from  both  officers  and 
men. 

The  regiment  had  passed  through  several  battles  since  1 
had  been  with  it,  and,  it  goes  without  saying,  had  done  its 
duty  well,  and  its  ranks  had  become  so  thin  that  it  was  but  a 
mere  shadow  of  its  former  self.  1  have  no  way  of  telling  how 
many  were  left,  but  remember  that  in  the  battle  of  Williams- 
burg  alone  the  regiment  lost  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
men  and  officers,  in  killed  and  wounded. 


90  CHAPTER  IX 

Although  it  had  been  only  a  little  over  a  year  since  we 
had  seen  each  other,  I  could  see  a  great  change  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  officers  and  men  ;  their  faces  indicated  that 
they  had  passed  through  great  hardships.  Some  of  the  men 
who  carried  me  off  the  field  were  there  and  I  learned  that 
some  of  the  others  had  joined  the  ranks  of  those  who  had 
gone  to  their  last  reward. 

As  I  listened  to  the  stories  told  by  several  of  the  officers 
and  men  of  what  they  had  passed  through  since  I  was  with 
them,  I  could  but  think  that  perhaps  many  of  those  who  were 
not  now  with  us  endured  sufferings  to  which  mine  would  be  as 
nothing  in  comparison. 

Noble  dead,  Requicscant  in  pace ;  and  may  the  God  of 
peace  hasten  the  time  when  wars  shall  be  no  more. 


CHAPTER  X. 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1863,  President  Lincoln  ap- 
pointed me  a  colonel  in  the  Invalid  Corps,  and  I  was  ordered 
to  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  to  superintend  the 
gathering;  together  of  troops  which  formed  a  regiment  after- 
wards known  as  the  I5th  Regt.  Invalid  Corps.  I  was  then 
ordered  to  Chicago,  111.,  to  relieve  Brig.  Gen.  Ammon,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  Post,  and  Col.  C.  A'.  DeLand  of  the  1st 
Michigan  sharp-shooters,  who,  with  his  regiment,  was  stationed 
at  Camp  Douglas,  guarding  the  prisioners  of  war  then  collect- 
ed there.  Col.  DeLand  and  his  regiment  went  immediately  to 
the  front. 

On  the  reorganization  of  the  corps,  President  Lincoln 
commissioned  me  Colonel  I5th  Regt.  Veteran  Reserve  Corps, 
with  rank  from  the  2yth  of  September,  1863.  This  commission 
I  prize  very  highly,  as  it  bears  the  autograph  of  our  lamented 
President. 

I  remained  at  Chicago  in  command  of  the  Post,  and  of 
Camp  Douglas,  until  the  number  of  prisoners  became  so  great 
that  my  regiment,  consisting  of  but  four  hundred  officers  and 
men — ever}-  one  of  whom  was  wounded — was  not  sufficient  to 
guard  them,  and  the  8th  Regt.  V.  R.  C.  Col,  and  Bvt.  Brig. 
Gen.  Sweet,  commanding,  and  the  24th  Ohio  Battery,  Lieut. 
James  W.  Gamble,  commanding,  were  sent  to  assist  in  guard- 
ing them,  and  as  Gen.  Sweet  ranked  me,  he,  of  course,  took 


92  CHAPTER  X 

command  of  the  Post.  I  was  then  ordered  to  Philadelphia,  Pa,, 
to  begin  closing  up  the  camps  throughout  the  country.  This 
left  Lieut.  Col.  Martin  Flood — a  most  worthy  officer — in  com- 
mand of  the  1 5th  V.  R.  C. 

On  reporting  to  Gen.  Meade  in  Philadelphia,  I  was  fur- 
nished the  blanks  prepared  by  the  government  for  the  closing 
up  of  the  camps  and  began  the  work  at  ''Camp  William  Penn," 
and  "Camp  Cadwallader."  My  commission  as  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral, by  Brevet,  was  given  by  the  President  April  9,  1868,  with 
rank  from  March  i,3th  and  I  receved  it  while  here  in  Philadel- 
phia. 

It  was  while  engaged  in  this  work  that,  on  account  of 
my  alleged  resemblance  to  Gen.  Grant — of  which  I  had  never 
before  heard — I  had  a  little  experience  of  the  annoyance  and 
discomfort  persons  high  in  honor  and  popularity  suffer. 

While  the  catafalque  bearing  the  remains  of  our  beloved 
Lincoln  was  passing  through  Philadelphia,  all  the  officers  of 
the  army  present  followed  it,  marching  directly  in  the  rear  of 
it  on  foot,  but  as  I  could  not  march  I  was  given  permission 
to  ride  in  a  carriage  next  to  these  officers.  The  crowd  of 
people  was  so  great  that  the  procession  would  be  brought  to 
a  halt  quite  frequently,  until  the  police  could  clear  the  way 
sufficiently  for  it  to  proceed.  I  had  invited  three  wounded 
officers,  who  were  unable  to  march,  to  ride  with  me.  At  one 
of  the  halts,  one  of  these  officers  said  he  heard  the  crowd 
saying,  "Grant  is  coming,  Grant  is  coming  in  a  carriage,"  and 
asked  me  if  I  thought  it  could  be  true.  I  said,  "No,  if  Gen. 
Grant  were  here  he  would  be  marching  with  the  other  gen- 


CHAPTER  X  93 

erals  on  foot,  or  if  anything  had  happened  to  temporarily 
compel  him  to  take  a  carriage  it  would  certainly  be  in  advance 
of  us."  We  had  started  on  during  this  conversation  and  soon 
noticed  that  we  were  being  looked  at  much  more  than  before, 
and  that  some  would  raise  their  hats  as  we  passed,  and  one 
of  these  officers  said,  laughingly,  "I  believe,  colonel,  they 
think  you  are  Gen.  Grant."  I  ridiculed  the  idea,  but  when  we 
came  to  the  next  halt,  men  began  to  crowd  around  and  upon 
the  carriage,  wanting  me  to  shake  hands  with  them.  My 
denying  that  I  was  Gen.  Grant,  and  telling  them  I  was  only 
a  wounded  colonel,  together  with  the  three  officers  verifying 
my  statements,  and  my  throwing  back  my  cape,  thus  showing 
a  colonel's  uniform,  seemed  to  have  but  little  weight.  I  then 
had  the  driver  close  the  top  of  the  carriage  so  that  when  we 
started  on  no  one  could  see  me,  neither  could  we  see  out  except 
through  the  glass  in  each  door.  I  supposed  this  would  end 
it,  but  no ;  when  the  procession  came  to  the  next  halt,  a  man 
opened  one  of  the  doors,  and  looking  me  earnestly  in  the 
face,  said,  "Pretty  good  dodge,  General,  pretty  good  dodge 
to  put  on  a  colonel's  uniform,"  and  then  turning  around  to  the 
crowd,  called  out,  ''It  is  him,  boys,  it  is  him  ;  I  know  him,  a 
colonel's  coat  can't  fool  me."  The  crowd  then  began  to  surge 
upon  the  carriage  to  such  an  extent  that  I  told  the  driver  to 
call  the  police,  which  he  did.  I  explained  the  situation  to 
them,  and  asked  them  to  get  me  out  of  the  procession  as  soon 
as  possible,  which  they  promised  to  do,  and  as  we  started 
on  gave  some  directions  to  the  driver.  It  was  not  long  before 
we  knew  by  the  motion  of  the  carriage  that  the  driver  was 


94  CHAPTER  X 

urging  his  horses  into  a  trot,  and  through  the  glass  in  the 
doors  could  see  we  were  passing  into  a  street  not  lined  with  a 
crowd  of  people,  and  going  at  quite  a  rapid  pace.  We  soon 
found,  however,  that  quite  a  crowd  was  following  us  and 
running  along  on  each  side  of  the  carriage,  and  heard  them  say, 
"He's  going  to  the  Continental."  On  hearing  that,  one  of  the 
officers  partly  opened  one  of  the  doors  and  called  out,  "Go  to 
the  Continental,"  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  large 
portion  of  the  crowd  turn  on  to  a  street  leading  toward  that 
hotel.  On  going  a  block  or  two  farther,  we  found  the  street 
blocked  by  street-cars  which  had  been  stopped  by  the  pro- 
cession crossing  their  track.  The  carriage  was  sur- 
rounded by  about  fifty  men  who  insisted  that  I  was  Gen. 
Grant  and  nothing  we  could  say  would  convince  them  to  the 
contrary.  The  one  who  seemed  to  be  the  leader  finally  said, 
"Well,  General,  if  you  will  shake  hands  with  us  we  will  be 
satisfied."  It  proved  to  be  quite  a  painful  operation,  my  hand 
and  shoulder  pained  me  for  several  days  afterwards.  I  could 
but  think  that,  if  shaking  hands  with  so  few  causes  so  much 
pain,  \vhat  must  be  the  effect  upon  our  great  men  who  are 
sometimes  compelled  to  shake  hands  with  hundreds. 

I  was  driven  to  the  place  where  I  was  stopping — it  is 
unnecessary  to  say  it  was  not  the  Continental  Hotel — and 
two  cf  the  officers  went  to  that  hotel  to  see  what  was  going 
on.  When  they  returned,  they  reported  that  there  wa.c  a  great 
crowd  around  it  calling  for  Gen.  Grant,  and  that  when  the  pro- 
prietor came  out  on  to  the  balcony  and  told  them  that  Gen. 
Grant  was  not  there,  and  had  not  been  there,  they  would  call 


CHAPTER  X  95 

him  a  -  -  liar,  and  keep  on  calling,  "Grant !  Grant !"  When 
I  afterwards  saw  Gen.  Grant,  he  said  he  had  heard  of  my 
having  been  mistaken  for  him  on  that  occasion,  and  laughed 
merrily  over  it. 

I  was  kept  closing  up  camps  throughout  the  country,  and 
not  mustered  out  of  service  until  June  30,  1866,  when,  on  re- 
turning to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  I  resumed  the  duties  of  civil  life 
under  many  great  disadvantages  on  account  of  my  having 
been  so  seriously  wounded. 

When  the  government  organized  a  corps  of  four  regi- 
ments consisting  entirely  of  wounded  officers  and  men  for  the 
regular  army,  I  was  offered  a  commission  and  desired  to  ac- 
cept it,  but  my  wife  and  brother  John  thought  I  had  better 
not,  and  I  followed  their  advice.  It  proved  to  be  a  great  mis- 
take, however,  financially,  at  least,  for  within  two  years  Con- 
gress passed  an  act  mustering  them  all  out  of  the  service  and 
placing  all  the  officers  on  the  retired  list  of  the  regular  army 
at  the  highest  rank  they  had  ever  held  in  the  volunteer  ser- 
vice. 

In  the  fall  of  1892,  I  went  abroad  and  lectured  through 
England  on  the  North  American  Indian,  spent  some  time  in 
Paris,  but  did  not  speak  the  French  language  well  enough  to 
lecture  in  it,  for  which  I  was  very  sorry,  for  I  think  the  sub- 
ject would  have  been  very  interesting  to  the  French  people. 
When  in  London,  I  had  boarded  and  made  my  headquar- 
ters at  a  family  hotel  in  Kensington  Gardens,  and  on  returning 
from  Paris  went  to  this  same  hotel,  and  remained  until  the 
date  of  the  sailing  of  the  steamer  City  of  New  York,  from 


96  CHAPTER  X 

Liverpool.  I  had  been  told  she  was  one  of  the  largest  and 
finest  afloat,  and  never  having  sailed  on  one  of  that  size,  sent 
my  baggage  on  by  express,  because  railroads  did  not  check 
baggage  in  England  in  those  days,  and  when  I  arrived,  had 
it  taken  on  board,  engaged  my  stateroom,  and  then  enjoyed 
myself  seeing  them  load  such  an  immense  steamer.  When 
it  came  meal  time  I  was  assigned  a  seat  at  the  captain's 
table,  which  was  in  an  alcove  off  from  the  main  dining  hall, 
and  would  accommodate  only  six  persons.  On  the  opposite  end 
from  the  captain  sat  a  very  gentlemanly  looking  man  some- 
what past  middle  life,  who  seemed  to  be  much  interested  in 
a  story  I  told  at  the  table  and  asked  me  some  questions,  which 
resulted  in  our  getting  into  a  very  pleasant  conversation.  At 
Queenstown  we  happened  to  meet  just  as  I  was  coming  up 
ton  deck  from  my  stateroom,  when  he  asked  me  where  my 
stateroom  was.  On  my  telling  him,  he  said,  "Is  that  a  matter 
of  choice  ?"  I  smilingly  answered,  "You  know,  sir,  that  we  are 
not  always  permitted  to  take  otir  choice  of  the  good  things 
of  this  world."  He  smiled  and  calling  one  of  the  waiter  boys 
told  him  to  ''Tell  Mr.  Kinzey  to  come  here/'  Mr.  Kinzey 
was  the  purser  of  the  boat,  and  when  he  came,  he  doffed  his 
hat  most  politely  and  stood  at  attention  like  a  soldier  ready 
to  receive  orders.  I  had  begun  to  wonder  who  this  gentleman 
could  be,  for  I  had  not  been  introduced  to  him  or  even  heard 
his  name.  "Mr.  Kinzey,  is  No.  57  engaged?"  "No,  sir." 
"Please  have  it  put  in  order;"  and  looking  at  me  said,  "Let 
us  walk  in  here  for  a  moment,"  and  leading  the  way  took  me 
into  the  smoking  room  and  offered  me  a  cigar.  As  I  did  not 


CHAPTER  X  97 

smoke,  I  thanked  him  and  wondered  what  would  happen  next. 
Presently  lie  tapped  a  call-bell,  and,  when  the  boy  came,  he 
said,  "Tell  Captain  Jamison  to  come  here."  I  was  puzzled 
enough  before,  but  this  deepened  the  enigma.  Who  could 
this  person  be  who  had  power  to  order  not  only  the  purser, 
but  the  captain  of  this  great  and  beautiful  steamer,  to  come 
to  him  at  will?  When  the  captain  came,  my  friend  said,  ''Cap- 
tain Jamison,  I  am  sorry  I  am  not  going  over  with  you  this 
trip,  but  Gen.  Strong  is  and  I  wish  you  to  give  him  the  freedom 
of  the  boat.''  The  captain  said  he  would  be  happy  to  do  so, 
and  politely  excusing  himself  left.  He  then  sent  for  the  chief 
engineer  and  when  introducing  him  said,  "There  is  some  very 
fine  machinery  in  this  boat  which  I  think  you  would  enjoy 
seeing,  and  I  am  sure  Mr.  -  -  (whose  name  I  have  for- 
gotten) would  be  pleased  to  show  it  to  you.''  While  we  were 
talking  witii  the  engineer,  the  purser  appeared  and  said,  "No. 
57  is  in  order,  sir."  My  friend  then  turned  to  me,  saying, 
'Let  us  see  how  it  looks."  We  followed  the  purser,  who,  on 
arriving  at  No.  57  opened  the  door  and  then  stepped  aside. 
My  still  unknown  friend  passed  into  the  room,  and  turning  to 
me  said,  Permit  me  to  present  you  this  stateroom  for  the  trip," 
and  as  he  extended  his  hand  said,  ''The  tender  has  been  wait- 
ing for  me,  and  I  must  bid  you  good-bye."  As  I  grasped  his 
hand  I  said,  "I  beg  pardon,  sir,  but  kindly  tell  me  to  whom  1 
am  indebted  for  this  kindness."  He  then  handed  me  his  card, 
which  simply  had  on  it  ''James  Spence,';  and  wished  me  bon 
voyage.  I  thanked  him  most  cordially  and  followed  him  to 
the  rail  where  he  passed  down  on  to  the  tender,  and  as  it 


98  CHAPTER  X 

steamed  away  we  each  waved  our  farewells  until  the  waving 
handkerchiefs  could  be  seen  no  longer. 

Returning  to  my  new  stateroom,  I  found  it  to  be  a  large 
double  room,  finely  furnished  and  beautifully  upholstered  with 
every  convenience  attached,  and  was  told  by  the  purser  that 
Mr.  Spence  was  the  managing  owner  of  that  line  of  steamers, 
residing  in  England,  and  that  the  stateroom  I  now  oc- 
cupied was  the  "Bridal  Chamber.".  The  purser  sent  the  state- 
room steward  to  me,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  arranged 
the  rooms  as  I  wished,  and  I  was  enjoying  my  new  quarters 
to  my  heart's  content. 

The  next  morning,  not  feeling  well,  I  did  not  appear  at 
the  breakfast  table  and  the  purser  came  to  see  me  and  offered 
to  send  me  a  bottle  of  champagne,  saying,  "You  know  you 
have  the  freedom  of  the  boat,  and  whatever  you  wish  you  can 
have  without  cost."  I  thanked  him,  but  declined  the  cham- 
pagne. By  dinner  time  I  felt  well  enough  to  take  my  seat  at 
the  table,  and  was  all  right  during  the  remainder  of  the  trip. 
After  arriving  home  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Spence  in 
which  he  gave  me  his  private  address,  and  invited  me  to  be  his 
guest  whenever  I  came  to  England.  I  replied,  and  sincerely 
regret  to  say  that  some  time  afterwards  I  received  a  letter 
from  his  son  informing  me  of  his  father's  death. 

I  mention  this  change  of  staterooms  in  this  sketch  as  it 
made  a  very  pleasant  incident  in  my  life,  and  one  that  came 
to  me  in  such  a  pleasing  manner  from  a  perfect  stranger. 

During  the  next  few  years  nothing  of  special  interest  oc- 
curred and  as  I  grew  older  the  cold  winters  did  not  agree 


CHAPTER  X  99 

with  me.  I  was  taken  with  a  bronchial  cough  and  my  physi- 
cian  advised  a  warmer  climate.  We  therefore  decided  to 
move,  and  in  January,  1896,  I  came  with  my  family  to  Los 
Gatos,  Santa  Clara  County,  California,  where  I  still  reside. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Our  home  in  California  has  been  upon  a  ranch  of  sixty- 
three  acres,  most  beautifully  located  on  the  foothills  of  the 
Santa  Cruz  Mountains,  overlooking  the  Santa  Clara  Valley, 
our  house  standing  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Post 
Office  in  Los  Gatos,  ten  miles  from  San  Jose,  and  about  fifty- 
five  from  San  Francisco.  When  we  came  here  there  was  no 
connection  with  the  outside  world,  other  than  wagon  roads, 
except  a  narrow  gauge  railroad  with  a  third  rail,  between  San 
Jose  and  Los  Gatos ;  now  there  is  a  trolley  line  passing  within 
a  half  mile  of  our  house,  which  runs  from  San  Jose  to  Los 
Gatos  and  back  by  a  circuitous  route  through  all  the  towns, 
then  on  to  Palo  Alto  and  beyond-  The  narrow  guage  has 
lengthened  and  expanded  into  a  system,  which,  since  it  has  re- 
covered from  the  damages  it  received  in  April,  1906,  has  some- 
times run  twenty-eight  passenger  trains  a  day  through  Los 
Gatos,  and  half  that  number  or  more  in  dull  times.  We  have 
a  telephone  in  the  house,  and  could  have  electric  lights,  etc., 
if  we  wished.  I  mention  these  facts  to  show  how  rapidly  the 
West  improves. 

At  the  time  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Exposition  was  held  at 
Portland,  Oregon,  I  received  a  cordial  invitation  from  my 
relatives  residing  there  to  visit  them,  and  with  my  son,  Stuart, 
went  first  to  the  house  of  my  nephew,  Thomas  Nelson  Strong, 
and  while  there  he  gave  us  a  delightful  trip  on  the  Williamette 
and  Columbia  rivers.  It  was  at  his  house  also  I  met  William 


CHAPTER  XI  101 

James  Strong,  brother  William's  youngest  son,  who  was 
named  after  his  father  and  myself,  and  was  a  babe  only  five 
weeks  old  when  1  last  saw  him,  and  now  a  man  with  a  family 
of  grown  children.  1  could  hardly  realize  that  he  could  be  the 
same  person. 

In  a  short  time  we  were  invited  to  make  our  home  at 
the  house  of  one  of  my  widowed  nieces,  and  while  at  her 
house  I  was  invited  by  my  niece,  Mrs.  Willson  (a  daughter 
of  brother  John,  whose  home  was  in  Philadelphia),  to  accom- 
pany herself  and  two  children  on  a  pleasure  trip  to  Alaska. 
We  went  by  rail  from  Portland  to  Seattle,  where  we  took  the 
mail  steamer,  which  visited  every  port  on  the  route.  1  had 
jiever  been  to  Victoria,  Juneau,  Sitka  or  Skagway,  so  it  was 
an  entirely  new  country  to' me.  1  amused  myself  at  several  of 
the  landings  talking  with  the  Indians,  who  were  trying  to  sell 
their  "Tenas  icta"  (little  things),  and  1  was  surprised  to  see 
how  much  of  the  "Chinook  Jargon"  I  had  remembered. 

The  climate  of  Skagway  was  very  different  from  what  I 
expected.  I  was  shown  some  very  large  sized  potatoes  that  had 
been  grown  in  the  hotel  garden,  and  it  was  now  only  August, 
and  I  never  saw  flowers  more  abundant  or  more  beautiful 
than  those  in  Skagway  and  when  the  steamer  left  there  the 
tables  were  loaded  down  with  flowers  that  had  been  given  to 
the  ladies. 

Sitka,  at  which  we  stopped  on  our  return  from  Skagway 
was  a  place  of  much  interest  to  me,  for  in  preparing  the  lec- 
tures 1  gave  in  England  on  the  Xorth  American  Indians,  1 
had  made  quite  a  study  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Russians 


102  CHAPTER  XI 

had  treated  them  in  the  long  ago,  and  had  a  stereopticon  slid'* 
representing  the  Greek  Church,  and  one  representing  the  four 
totem  posts  located  on  the  bank  of  the  Indian  river,  a  short 
distance  from  Sitka,  which  I  rode  out  to  see.  I  could  but 
contrast  the  great  change  that  had  taken  place  since  the  United 
States  purchased  the  country.  Now,  there  was  a  fine  school 
not  only  for  the  whites  but  to  which  Indians  were  admitted, 
and  everything  bore  the  imprint  of  civilization,  culture  and 
kindness.  We  were  twelve  days  on  this  trip,  and  it  was  cer- 
tainly the  most  picturesque  I  had  ever  taken,  and  in  connec- 
tion with  what  I  saw  about  Portland,  Oregon  City,  the  Cas- 
cades and  Cathlamet — for  all  my  relatives  seemed  to  vie  with 
each  other  in  giving  me  a  good  time — gave  me  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  see  how  Oregon  and  Washington  had  changed 
during  the  forty-nine  years  since  I  had  been  there,  and  when 
I  made  a  mental  picture  of  the  country  as  it  was  when  I  first 
saw  it,  I  was  lost  in  amazement. 

A  few  years  prior  to  my  coming  to  live  in  California 
brother  William  and  his  wife  had  died,  so  I  did  not  have  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  either  of  them.  Every  one  of  his  children 
who  were  still  living,  and  the  widow  of  his  son  Curtis — the  baby 
boy  who  came  around  Cape  Horn  with  us — and  also  the  widow 
of  his  son  Frederick  R. — the  first  child  born  at  Cathlamet — 
lived  in  Portland,  and  never  could  an  uncle  receive  more  heart- 
felt love  and  kindness  than  they  all  gave  me. 

My  son  and  myself  came  back  to  San  Francisco  by  boat, 
and  in  February,  1906,  I  was  taken  very  ill,  being  confined  to 
my  bed  for  many  weeks,  and  by  the  eighteenth  of  April— 


CHAPTER  XI  103 

tiie  date  of  the  great  earthquake — I  was  still  quite  feeble  and 
exceedingly  nervous ;  fortunately  our  house  was  not  much  in- 
jured, while  in  San  Francisco  and  San  Jose  great  damage 
was  done,  and  every  railroad  tunnel  on  the  line  running  through 
the  Santa  Cruz  Mountains  was  destroyed  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  required  over  two  years  to  rebuild  them,  as  the  com- 
pany took  this  opportunity  to  change  the  track  from  narrow 
to  standard  gauge,  and  to  double-track  the  whole  road. 

The  shock,  however,  affected  my  nerves  and  general  health 
very  much,  and  in  June  my  physician  told  me  I  must  take  a 
trip  somewhere,  that  a  change  was  absolutely  necessary,  and 
through  the  kindness  of  my  niece,  Mrs.  Mary  T.  Strong, 
widow  of  brother  William's  son,  Frederick  R.,  I  was  enabled  to 
take  an  extended  trip  East,  accompanied  by  my  son,  Stuart. 
The  trip  was  very  enjoyable  and  beneficial.  We  left  Los  Gatos 
the  forepart  of  July,  and  arrived  at  my  son  Edward's  house  in 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  on  the  tenth. 

I  was  very  much  surprised  at  the  changes  that  had  taken 
place  in  Buffalo,  during  the  ten  years  since  I  had  seen  it,  not 
only  in  the  parks  and  streets,  but  in  the  location  of  the  large 
business  houses.  Those  on  Main  Street  had  all  been  moved 
up  town,  and  everything  was  so  changed  as  to  make  it  look 
quite  like  another  city. 

My  son  Edward  and  his  wife  had  visited  us  several  times 
since  we  moved  to  Los  Gatos,  and  had  told  us  about  many  of 
these  changes,  but  I  had  not  realized  them,  and  therefore  had 
retained  in  memory  a  picture  of  Buffalo  as  it  was  ten  years 
before.  Many  friends  called  to  see  me,  and  Mrs.  Letchwortn 


104  CHAPTER  XI 

(the  other  daughter  of  brother  John),  and  her  husband,  who 
were  still  occupying  their  city  house  on  account  of  illness  in 
their  family,  did  everything  they  could  to  give  me  pleasure, 
placing  sometimes  an  auto,  and  sometimes  a  carriage,  at  my 
disposal.  Part  of  my  time  was  occupied  calling  upon  friends, 
and  part  in  seeing  the  changes  that  had  taken  place.  One 
place  of  great  interest  to  me  was  the  cemetery. 

Many  years  prior  to  moving  to  California  I  had  gone  to 
Rushville,  and  removed  the  remains  of  father  and  mother  to 
Buffalo,  and  they  were  placed  under  a  double  stone  in  brother 
John's  lot  in  Forest  Lawn  Cemetery. 

After  remaining  in  Buffalo  about  a  month  and  my  health 
not  improving  as  much  as  I  had  hoped,  I  called  in  a  physician 
who  advised  me  to  try  some  other  climate.  I  was  greatly  dis- 
couraged, as  I  had  hoped  to  get  better  results  from  my  trip, 
but  consider  myself  one  of  the  most  fortunate  of  mortals  in 
having  so  many  kind  friends. 

My  youngest  brother's  widow,  Mrs.  Julia  A  strong,  was 
living  with  her  widowed  daughter,  Mrs.  Helen  S.  Parker,  at 
'Galesville,  Wisconsin,  both  of  whom  asked  me  to  visit  them; 
so  when  my  sons  had  made  every  arrangement  possible  for 
my  comfort  on  the  trip,  we  left  Buffalo. 

My  niece  met  us  at  a  station  before  reaching  Galesville, 
and  escorted  us  to  her  home.  My  sister-in-law  was  the  only 
one  living  who  had  known  my  mother  intimately,  and  she 
loved  her  dearly,  so  it  can  well  be  imagined  we  greaty  enjoyed 
talking  over  the  long  ago ;  and  my  niece  and  her  chidren  did 


CHAPTER  XI  105 

everything  that  could  be  done  to  add  to  my  comfort  and  pleas- 
ure. 

We  remained  here  about  a  month,  and  then  left  for  home, 
arriving  in  due  time  without  a  mishap,  thanks  to  a  kind  Provi- 
dence, and  to  the  watchful  care  and  attention  of  my  son  Stuart, 
and  I  can  never  repay  the  debt  of  gratitude  I  owe  to  those 
who  so  kindly  contributed  to  my  comfort  and  pleasure. 

My  health  has  improved  very  much  since  my  return,  and 
I  am  now  fairly  well  for  a  man  of  my  age  and  condition.  As  I 
gro\v  older  my  wounded  hip  grows  weaker,  and  L  become 
more  nervous,  but  that  is  to  be  expected. 

Last  year  ( 1909)  I  had  occasion  to  make  an  inquiry  in  the 
"National  Tribune,"  a  paper  published  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
and  in  a  short  time  I  was  greatly  pleased  to  receive  a  letter 
from  each  of  three  sergeants  of  the  old  38th,  all  of  whom  as- 
sisted in  carrying  me  off  the  field  the  night  I  fell ;  one  of  them 
was  over  ninety  years  old  when  he  wrote.  They  learned  that 
1  was  still  in  the  land  of  the  living  from  seeing  my  address 
attached  to  that  inquiry,  and  their  letters  were  most  cordial 
and  friendly. 

Had  the  war  been  with  a  foreign  foe,  the  victors  would 
not  have  been  called  upon  to  forgive  and  forget,  but  it  was 
not ;  it  was  a  family  quarrel ;  a  fight  between  brothers  to  di- 
vide, or  virtually  to  obtain  control  of  the  home,  and  now  as  It 
is  ended,  it  is  the  duty  of  both  parties  to  forget  and  forgive. 
As  for  myself,  although  my  hopes  and  ambitions  in  life  were 
ruined  by  the  shot  of  that  Confederate  soldier,  I  could  take  him 
by  the  hand  as  a  brother. 


io6  CHAPTER  XI 

I  have  sometimes  tried  to  imagine,  However,  what  this 
country  would  have  been  had  our  Confederate  brothers  won 
the  victory,  and  have  asked  myself,  would  it  be  as  it  now  is,  one 
of  the  great  and  glorious  countries  of  the  world? 

At  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Williamsburg,  Va.,  the  38th 
N.  Y.  belonged  to  Gen.  Kearney's  Division,  and  each  and 
every  one  of  us  believed  the  truth  of  the  motto  in  the  badge 
of  that  Division : 

"Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patria  mori!3 


